Vol.  XV  JUNE,  1919  No.  2 


INDIANA 
MAGAZINE 
OF  HISTORY 


CONTENl ^ 

Page 

i/ 

1  HE  Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana  in  1817  and 

Their  Neighbors — John  E,  Iglehart.--                  89 

The    American    Marines    at    Verdun,    Chateau 

Thierry,   Bouresches  and  Belleau  Wood^— 

Harrison  Cole   179 

Reviews  and  No                                               192 

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INDIANA 
MAGAZINE  OF  HISTORY 

Vol.  XV  JUNE,  1919  No.  2 

The  Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana 

in  1817  and  Their  Hoosier 

Neighbors 

By  John  E.  Iglehart,  Evansville,  Ind. 
Introduction 

(Copyright  1919,  by  John  E.  Iglehart) 

In  1916,  at  the  request  of  the  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Evansville,  the  writer  undertook  the  organization  and  direc- 
tion of  the  work  of  a  Historical  Commission  of  the  Evansville 
Centennial  for  1917.  With  a  view  to  qualify  himself  better 
for  the  work  he  sought  the  literature  of  the  early  western 
travelers,  as  well  as  other  writers,  and  began  a  search  in  the 
early  records  of  the  city  and  county  of  Vanderburgh,  as  well 
as  of  Warrick  and  Knox  counties,  out  of  which  Vanderburgh 
county  had  been  created. 

The  travels  of  William  Faux  in  the  west  in  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1819  resulted  from  his  intimacy  with  the  Ingle 
family  in  Somersham,  Huntingdonshire,  England,  where  both 
families  lived,  and  a  promise  made  by  Faux  to  Rev.  John 
Ingle,  a  Baptist  minister,  that  the  former  would  visit  the  son 
of  the  latter  at  Saundersville  in  Vanderburgh  county.  The 
diary  of  Faux  during  five  weeks  he  spent  in  John  Ingle's 
cabin  is  the  only  record  in  existence  of  the  first  British  set- 
tlement in  Indiana.     While  local  histories  have  recorded  the 


S^9/Z 


90  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

lives  of  many  mmebers  of  that  settlement  and  their  descend- 
ants, including  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  community, 
and  in  southwestern  Indiana  for  one  hundred  years,  no  men- 
tion is  made  in  any  of  them  of  the  colony  as  Faux  describes  it. 

When  the  war  came  on  in  1917  the  Historical  Commission 
ceased  its  labors.  The  writer,  as  a  descendant  of  John  Ingle 
of  Somersham  and  as  a  representative  of  three  pioneer  fam- 
ilies of  that  settlement,  felt  a  call  to  restore  the  fading  pic- 
ture, and  to  trace  the  work  and  lives  of  the  emigrants  and 
their  descendants  as  town  builders  and  commonwealth  build- 
ers, which  seemed  to  him  worthy  to  be  recorded. 

The  chief  qualifications  of  the  writer  for  the  work  lay  in 
the  fact  that  he  had  personally  known  some  of  the  original 
emigrants  of  the  first  generation  and  many  of  their  children, 
who  had  been  born  in  England,  among  whom  was  his  mother. 
He  liad  more  or  less  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  leaders 
of  the  settlement,  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  the  one  hun- 
dred or  more  families  who  came  into  the  settlement  in  the 
first  decade.  In  a  law  practice  of  about  fifty  years  in  Evans- 
ville,  where  he  has  lived  a  still  longer  time,  he  was  in  a  man- 
ner familiar  with  the  early  history  of  the  people  of  the  city 
and  county.  So  that  in  handling  the  records  and  files  of  the 
city  and  county  from  the  beginning  as  late  as  1830,  the  wTiter 
was  able,  so  to  speak,  to  become  acquainted  with  the  people 
of  the  town  and  county,  their  character  and  their  work  in  the 
first  decade,  and  to  interpret  many  of  the  old  records  more 
fully  than  could  have  been  done  by  a  stranger.  In  tracing  the 
histoiy  of  the  beginnings  of  the  early  British  settlement,  the 
personal  knowledge  of  Mr.  Edward  Maidlow,  still  living  in 
excellent  health,  and  James  Erskine,  recently  deceased,  who 
were  born  in  it  in  1831,  were  of  great  assistance,  as  has  been 
Mrs.  Samuel  G.  Evans,  a  granddaughter  of  Saunders  Horn- 
brook,  Sr.,  who  has  permitted  the  writer  to  examine  the  fani- 
ily  correspondence  of  the  early  time. 

As  will  appear  in  this  sketch,  the  movement  represented 
in  the  Indiana  colony  was  part  of  a  greater  one  and  a  clear 
presentation  of  the  whole  was  necessaiy  to  a  history  of  the 
part.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  repeat  the  histor>'  of  the 
Birkbeck-Flower  movement,  so  fully  presented  in  the  writings 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana  91 

of  those  two  men.  The  correctness  of  Prof.  Edwin  Erie 
Sparks'  statement  as  to  the  final  outcome  of  the  Illinois  colony, 
was  challenjred  by  Mr.  Walter  Colyer,  and  the  writer  was  glad 
to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  invite  Mr.  Colyer  to 
state  the  facts  upon  the  other  side  of  the  matter,  which  are 
presented  by  him  probably  as  well  and  as  fully  as  can  be  done, 
and  they  will  probably  be  the  last  word  on  that  subject. 

The  fmal  success  of  each  of  these  colonies  is  not  to  be 
sought  at  this  time,  in  outward  evidence  of  distinguishing 
British  life,  manners,  or  customs  in  any  form,  as  Professor 
Sparks  seems  to  imply.  The  emigrants,  though  of  English, 
Irish  and  Scotch  birth,  became  immediately  American  and 
their  descendant's  are  as  distinctly  such  today  in  every  re- 
spect, as  any  portion  of  the  American  people. 

The  Hoosier  neighbors  of  the  colonists  in  southera  Indi- 
ana are  traced  with  some  care,  both  the  native  leaders  and  the 
body  of  the  people  with  whom  they  lived  as  citizens  and  neigh- 
bors. Morris  Birkbeck's  descriptions  in  his  Notes  and  Letters 
will  always  remain  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of 
the  time.  His  description  of  the  people  of  Princeton,  quoted 
in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  is  truthful,  as  the  writer  has  every 
reason  to  believe,  and  he  has  practiced  law  in  Princeton  and 
on  the  circuit  for  almost  fifty  years  and  has  a  fair  general 
knowledge  of  the  people  of  Gibson  county.  While  the  influ- 
ence of  the  early  English  and  other  foreigners  and  the  native 
eastern  people  has  been  felt  in  southern  Indiana,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the  southern  portion 
of  the  State  are  of  southern  descent. 

In  dealing  with  the  status  of  those  people  in  the  early 
history  of  the  State,  any  fair  critic  must  realize  that  alto- 
gether undue  emphasis  has  to  this  time  been  placed  in  public 
opinion  east  of  Indiana  upon  descriptions  by  early  writers, 
who  have  not  fairly  interpreted  the  people,  but  who  have 
taken  the  bottom  layer  to  represent  the  whole  people,  or  have 
been,  correctly  or  not,  so  interpreted.  In  presenting  Birk- 
beck's picture  of  these  people,  as  a  fair  type  of  the  plain  peo- 
ple, who  were  much  similar  to  the  body  of  the  people  in  all 
of  the  counties  of  southern  Indiana,  the  writer  may  seem  to 
have  dealt  with  the  subject  as  an  advocate  and  a  partisan.    He 


92  Itidimui  Magazine  of  History 

has  eliminated  as  irrelevant  to  a  truthful  picture  of  the  better 
class  of  Hoosiers,  The  Hoosier  School  Master  entire,  and 
much  of  the  New  Purchase,  and  has  presented  his  facts  and 
reasons. 

Both  the  chapter  on  the  Men  of  the  Western  Waters  by 
Roosevelt  and  the  new  and  splendid  interpretation  of  frontier 
life  in  the  Old  North  West  by  Frederick  G.  Turner,  relate  to 
the  people,  the  location  and  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing 
and  are  germane  to  the  description  of  the  Hoosier  neighbors 
of  the  British  colonists,  who  included  the  family  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The  references  to  Abraham  Lincoln  are  intended  chiefly 
to  call  attention  to  him  as  a  Hoosier  neighbor  of  the  British 
colony  during  its  first  decade  and  longer,  and  the  influence 
upon  his  character  of  a  life  among  the  pioneer  farmers  of 
southwestern  Indiana,  and  to  point  out  avenues  of  oppor- 
tunity and  information  which  existed  within  his  reach,  dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Indiana,  up  to  the  time  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age  and  which  furnish  facts  relevant  in  the  history 
of  the  main  theme.  That  he  had  more  opportunities  and  read 
more  books  than  his  historians  are  able  to  trace  is  conceded 
by  them. 

The  writer  had  prepared  biographical  data,  with  illustra- 
tions, of  a  number  of  the  original  settlers  and  their  descend- 
ants, among  the  latter  a  number  of  the  representative  men 
and  women  in  this  section  of  the  State,  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
as  a  most  complete  verification  of  his  statements,  but  the 
limitations  of  a  magazine  article  properly  exclude  them. 

The  First  English  Settlers 

In  the  summer  of  1817,  Saunders  Hornbrook,  Sr.,  of 
Tavistock,  Devonshire,  England,  perfected  arrangements  for 
his  son,  Saunders  Hornbrook,  Jr.,  to  come  to  America  with 
his  two  sisters,  and  furnished  him  money  to  purchase  land, 
build  temporary  improvements  and  prepare  accommodations 
for  the  rest  of  the  family,  in  the  wilderness  of  the  far  west. 
He  intended  to  follow  when  the  accommodations  were  ready. 
His  wife,  a  woman  of  unusual  ability,  was  to  remain  behind  a 


lyUhart:     Cominy  of  the  English  to  Indiana  93 

couple  of  years  with  the  two  smaller  children  and  settle  up 
the  business.  The  senior  Hornbrook  operated  large  manufac- 
tories (for  the  time),  woolen  mills  and  an  iron  foundry.  He 
was  an  educated  man,  as  were  his  ancestors  for  several  gen- 
erations before  him,  and  came  of  good  stock. 

The  first  week  in  October,  1817,  the  junior  Hornbrook, 
with  his  sisters,  arrived  at  Pigeon  creek,  "a  place  merely  for 
loading  and  discharging  vessels  for  the  western  part  of  Indi- 
ana State."  Evansville,  located  half  a  mile  above  the  mouth 
of  Pigeon  creek,  then  consisted  of  thirteen  log  houses.  A 
road  ran  out  to  the  river  through  the  blul!"  bank  at  a  point 
now  the  foot  of  Main  street.  He  proceeded  without  delay  to 
Princeton,  twenty-seven  miles  due  north,  where  Birkbeck  and 
Flower  had  established  temporary  quarters,  while  arrange- 
ments for  the  accommodations  of  the  Prairie  settlement 
across  the  Wabash  river  were  in  progress.  Both  Flower  and 
Birkbeck  were  well  known  in  England,  and  Hornbrook,  Sr., 
had  planned  to  join  their  settlement  and  purchase  about  1,000 
acres  of  land  on  which  to  settle  with  his  family.  Their  scheme 
of  land  speculation,  however,  limited  the  amount  of  the  pur- 
chase of  one  farmer  to  one-half  section  of  land,  320  acres, 
required  the  purchaser  to  take  it  where  it  was  assigned  him, 
and  the  nearest  to  the  proposed  village  centre  where  Horn- 
brook could  buy  was  about  twenty  miles  distant.  He  was  re- 
quired to  pay  a  price  per  acre  greater  than  that  for  which 
equally  good  or  better  land,  much  nearer  in  the  government 
domain,  could  be  bought. 

These  terms  young  Hornbrook  indignantly  refused.  He 
returned  to  Princeton,  "and  after  fourteen  days  constant  fag, 
sometimes  one  and  sometimes  two  meals  a  day,  sleeping  in  a 
barn  or  cabin  at  night,  he  fixed  on  a  spot  of  one  and  one-half 
sections,"  nine  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  about  ten  miles  from 
the  Ohio  river,  and  seventeen  miles  from  Princeton,  which  he 
immediately  entered  at  the  land  otlice  at  Vincennes.' 

Hornbrook  came  by  the  Red  Banks  trail  from  Princeton, 
and  located  just  east  of  it.  This  trail  was  one  of  the  earliest 
routes  located  by  the  Indiana  and  extended  from  the  river 

•  I'rlvat*-  Utter  of  Siiunder«  Hornbrook.  Sr.  dated  Jan.  7.   1818.  at  Tavlfltock. 


94  ImUa)ui  Magazine  of  H {■story 

north  to  Princeton,  Vincenncs  and  Terre  Haute  and  beyond 
to  the  Indian  \  iUajres  at  a  very  early  day.-  The  survey  of  this 
line  by  Jacob  Fowler  in  1806  shows  it  terminates  at  the  Ohio 
river  about  five  miles  below  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  creek  in 
section  3,  town  7,  S.  R.  11  W.  about  seven  miles  north  of  Hen- 
derson (Red  Banks).  Here  local  history  says  the  channel 
was  very  narrow  on  account  of  sand  bars  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  and  in  low  water  was  crossed  by  whites  and  Indians 
without  boats.''  (Wilson's  map  places  the  ford  at  Red  Banks 
about  seven  miles  lower  down  the  river.)  This  testimony  is 
corroborated,  by  descriptions  in  deeds,  referring  to  this  trail, 
which  are  not  found  south  of  this  ford.^ 

"Evaiis\llle  rlRht  side.  Above  the  mouth  of  Pig»on  creek.  This  is  a  very 
thrivinK  town,  sitiiaHnl  in  the  bend  of  tho  river,  fifty-four  miles  south  of  Vln- 
cennes.  It  is  tlie  sent  of  Justice  for  VanderburRh  county.  Indiana  :  chann«l  nearest 
rigrht  shore,  round  a  high  bar  at  the  loft  hand  point,  opposite  Pigeon  creek.  Two 
miles  below  Pigeon  creek  there  is  a  hard  bar  on  the  right :  channel  near  the  left 
shore,  and  when  you  approach  the  left  hand  point  below,  keep  over  in  the  bend 
on  the  right,  to  avoid  a  large  bar  on  the  left,  round  the  point ;  when  past  the 
latter,  keep  well  over  to  the  left  again,  to  avoid  the  large  bar  on  the  right." 

This  location  by  Hornbrook  was  in  October  or  November, 
1817.  When  the  senior  Hornbrook  came  over  in  the  following 
summer.  1818,  he  met  Edward  Maidlow.  with  his  family,  at 
Wheeling,  bound  for  the  Prairie  settlement.  They  bought 
and  fitted  up  an  ark  and  came  by  water  to  Evansville  together, 
and  Maidlow  located  adjoining  Hornbrook,  entering  about  the 
same  quantity  of  land  as  Hornbrook. 

In  April,  the  same  year,  George  Flower,  on  his  second  trip 
to  America,  sailed  from  England  in  the  ship  Anna  Maria, 
chartered  by  him,  with  a  band  of  emigrants  for  his  colony, 
with  the  deck  of  the  ship  covered  with  a  selection  of  fine 
stock,  preceded  by  a  ship  similarly  loaded.'  Among  the  pas- 
sengers who  came  with  them,  named  by  Flower  in  his  history 
of  the  settlement,  was  John  Ingle,  his  wife,  five  young  chil- 

'  George  R.  Wilson,  Earhi  Indian   Trails  and  fturvrf/s.  Map  394,  360,  .161. 

'  Seb.i8tlan  Henrich.  the  veteran  Abstractor,  procured  this  testimony  a  gen- 
eration ago  from  reli.ible  sources. 

♦The  following  extract  from  The  Western  Pilot,  by  S;imuel  Cummings.  pub- 
lished in  1825.  which  furnishes  also  in  20  maps  the  course  of  the  Ohio  river  from 
Pittsburgh  to  the  Misnisiiippi  river,  shows  the  s.ind  bars  mentioned  at  the  ter- 
minus of  the  Red  Banks  trail  as  located  in  Fowler's  survey ; 

'George  Flowers.  Hiatory  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  Count}/,  til. 
100. 


Ifflchart:     Cojiihig  of  the  Enrjlish  tn  Indiana  95 

dren  and  maid,  who  came  to  Princeton  and  remained  a  short 
time  with  Injrie's  friend,  Jiid^re  WilMam  Prince,  after  whom 
Princeton,  then  four  years  old.  was  named.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  was  the  arrival  of  Georg^e  Flower's  ship,  which 
sailed  in  April.  1S18,  thus  mentioned:"' 

A  Nrw  Vork  jkiikt  S41.vk:  Wi*  li'iirii  tliiit  n  (;<'Utl('iiiaii  Iuih  liitHy  iirrlvcd 
in  tlilxflty  frtmi  Kujilmul  \vhos««  oltJtMt  is  t<>  M-ttlo  in  tlie  Illinois  territ*)ry — 
that  Ills  f.iiiiily  iiiul  st'ltlt-rs.  liron^'lit  over  with  liini.  iiniouiit  to  tifty-one 
iKTst^ns  -  (lijit  lu»  liJiK  fnrnislit'tl  lilms<'lf  witli  imrhultuiiil  Iniiilcnimts.  S4>04lfl 
of  v:irions  ivintis.  sonu*  cows.  sliiH-p  iind  jiIks  for  bri'ttlinj;,  and  aibonl  lUO.OOO 
|K>nn<Is  sterling  in  money. 

'I'liis  Is  iloln;:  Imsint'ss  to  a  >:i-pat  national  as  well  as  individual  profit; 
and  if  ;:c:itk>iiu'n  of  fortnnc  anil  oiitci -prise  will  eniii:i-:it<>  in  tlit>  same  man- 
ner, our  Western  .""^tates  will  shortly  he  the  ni«tst  tiourishln;;  part  of  the 
world. 

The  amount  of  cash  in  the  party  was  probably  over-stated, 
although  there  were  a  number  of  well-to-do  individuals  in 
the  party. 

After  a  survey  of  the  situation,  Ingle,  instead  of  going  as 
he  had  intended  to  the  Illinois  settlement,  bought  a  section  of 
land  near  Hornbrook,  about  the  time  that  ^laidlow  purchased. 
Hornbrook  and  Maidlow  were  men  of  middle  age  with  good 
sized  families  of  grown  children,  a  number  of  whom  later  in- 
termarried. Maidlow  was  "a  most  intelligent  and  respectable 
Hampshire  farmer,  who  brought  considerable  capital  and 
English  habits  and  feelings  the  best  in  the  world."'  He  pre- 
ferred to  remain  a  farmer  and  hold  his  land  for  its  increase. 
Ingle  outlived  Hornbrook  and  Maidlow.  He  was  for  many 
years  an  active  leader  in  public  matters  and,  like  Hornbrook 
and  Maidlow,  remained  on  his  farm  all  his  life.  All  of  them 
were  strong  men  and  natural  leaders,  who  became  and  re- 
mained during  their  lives  the  center  of  a  large  circle  in  the 
Saundersville  community,  exercising  wide  and  permanent 
influence. 

The  McJohnstons  and  Hillyards,  Irish,  who  came  in  1818. 
and  the  Wheelers.  English,  and  the  Erskines,  Scotch-Irish 
emigrant's,  who  came  in  1819,  all  located  a  few  miles  east  of 
Saundersville.     They  were  people  of  the  same  type,  all  men 

*  sues'  Wetklu  Reffiater.  June  6.  1818.  XIV.  256. 
'ThwaltfB.  Early  Weatrm  Traveta,  XI.  234. 


96  Indiatia  Magazine  of  History 

of  liiirh  purposes  and  cliaracter.  With,  or  following  soon  after 
all  of  those  men.  came  followers,  relatives  or  friends.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  British  settlement  in  Indiana  which, 
in  November,  1819,  Faux  describes  as  containing  fifty-three 
families  in  possession  of  12,800  acres  of  land  entered,  having 
capital  to  the  amount  of  eighty  thousand  dollars.'^  Within  two 
years  after  that  date  there  were  in  the  settlement  over  one 
hundred  families,  represening  probably  from  five  hundred  to 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  people. 

The  panic  then  existing  in  America,  perhaps  with  im- 
proved conditions  of  the  people  in  England,  possibly  bettered 
as  the  effect  of  wholesale  expatriation  in  this  general  move- 
ment, checked  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Indiana  colony  for 
some  years.  But  emigration  never  wholly  ceased.  Later  in 
the  forties  and  early  fifties  renewed  emigration  in  large  num- 
bers set  in  fiom  Great  Britain.  These  later  emigrants  were 
attracted  largely  by  relatives,  friends  or  acquaintances  of  the 
British  settlers  and  their  descendants,  who  by  that  time  were 
among  the  foremost  leaders  and  town  builders  in  the  rapidly 
growing  town  of  Evansville.  That  town  was  platted  in  1817, 
was  chartered  a  year  later,  and  was  now  located  near  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  settlement,  which  had  extended 
toward  Evansville. 

To  the  writer  it  seemed  a  matter  of  more  than  local  interest 
to  trace  the  influence  of  these  pioneers  and  their  associates  of 
the  first  decade  of  the  settlement,  to  trace  their  struggles  with 
adverse  elements  peculiar  to  the  locality,  in  their  stand  for 
law,  order,  morality  and  high  Christian  civilization  in  south- 
western Indiana,  at  the  beginning  of  societj'  itself,  and  when 
the  influences  of  organized  government  were  first  authori- 
tatively felt  here. 

The  relation  of  the  settlement  to  the  new  town  of  Evans- 
ville was  most  intimate.  A  few  miles  distance  between  them 
in  that  day  was  counted  slight  obstacle  to  such  intimacy. 
They  grew  from  beginnings  at  the  same  time  and  were  soon 

•ThwaltPS,  Early  Western  Travris.  XI.  :;40.  Aaron  Woods.  Sketrhrs.  \3.  men- 
tions English  settlements  In  Drarbom  and  Kranklln  counties  as  well  as  In  Van- 
derburgh county.  W.'  ttnd  a  short  reference  to  the  settlement  In  Dearborn  county. 
Archibald  Shaw.  //Uf.  of  Dearborn,  212-214.  but  no  reference  to  the  one  In 
Franklin  county. 


lylchart:     Coming  of  the  E^f/^w/i  to  Indiana  97 

almost  united  by  the  Mechanicsville  (or  Strin^own)  ridge, 
which  was  from  the  beginning  settled  by  the  better  class  of 
pioneers  and  on  which  were  scattered  early  a  few  of  the 
British  colony.  The  British  settlement  became  an  integral 
part  of  the  foundation,  growth  and  expansion  of  the  city  of 
Evansville,  which  was  destined  to  become  a  large  city,  in 
which  members  of  the  settlement  had  an  opportunity  not 
ofVered  to  the  other  purely  agi'icultural  British  settlements 
of  the  time. 

Some  of  the  descendants  of  these  British  pioneers,  includ- 
ing some  of  the  younger  generation  born  in  England,  such  as 
John  Ingle,  Jr.,  and  Philip  Hornbrook,  were  among  the  lead- 
ing citizens  of  Evansville  in  its  early  growth  and  formative 
period.  The  influence  generally  of  the  whole  settlement  on 
the  agricultural  community,  its  intelligence,  morality  and  so- 
ciety was  also  marked.  More  than  any  other  single  element, 
the  influence  from  the  source  mentioned  aided  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  high  standards  of  social  and  political  life  and 
institutions. 

Before  the  days  of  railroads  and  the  telegraph,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  British  settlement  were  leaders  in  the  town 
of  Evansville.  They  were  leaders  in  the  building  of  the  first 
canal,  the  first  railroad  and  the  first  telegraph  line  in  south- 
western Indiana,  and  in  the  promoting  of  the  first  coal  mine, 
and  river  craft  attachment  to  furnish  fuel  to  steamboats  on 
the  river  and  the  people  of  Evansville  at  its  wharf.  They 
were  leaders,  in  the  beginning,  of  the  educational  institutions 
of  the  city  of  Evansville  at  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the 
public  school  system  of  Indiana.  They  were  leaders  in  the 
organization  and  support  of  the  first  agricultural  society  in 
the  county"*,  and  the  early  agricultural  reports  of  the  State 
contain  the  names  of  one  of  the  younger  leaders  in  the  settle- 
ment as  among  the  first  contributors  to  the  literature  of  sci- 
entific agriculture."     In  pioneer  work  in  the  religious  insti- 

••  Philip  Hornbrook  waa'Becr<>tar>'  ot  the  nr»t  a«rieultur:il  society  In  Viuidor- 
bufKh  county  and  so  continued  during  his  life.  When  he  died  the  society  aban- 
doned Its  meetlnsa 

"  Int.reBilnK  articles  on  sclentldc  agriculture  by  Andrew  Ersklno,  Indiana 
Agricultural  Reports,  1866.  387.  392;  1859,  60.  119. 


98  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

tutions  of  the  entire  county  they  were  first,  as  the  records 
show. 

From  1819,  when  the  Wheeler  brothers  and  Robert  Par- 
rett  came  into  the  settlement,  and  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
afterwards,  while  the  community  was  too  poor  to  build  a 
church  or  support  a  preacher,  the  town  of  Evansville  itself, 
as  well  as  the  rural  districts,  relied  almost  entirely  upon  them 
— excepting?  an  occasional  visit  of  a  Presbyterian  missionary, 
or  the  Methodist  circuit  rider — for  an  educated  ministry. 

The  names  of  Hornbrook.  Ingle,  IMaidlow.  Parrett,  Hill- 
yard.  Wheeler,  Erskine  and  others  were  early  well  known  in 
Vincennes,  New  Harmony,  Albion,  Princeton,  Evansville,  and 
surrounding  country,  and  for  one  hundred  years,  through 
several  generations,  those  names  have  stood  for  truth,  hon- 
esty, and  justice  in  dealing  with  others.  The  large  repre- 
sentation of  those  families  among  the  prominent  citizens  of 
Evansville,  as  well  as  some  well  known  in  wider  fields,  is  due 
in  no  small  degree  to  this  fact.  Among  the  latter,  now  living, 
will  appear  names  known  throughout  the  countiy  in  litera- 
ture and  great  moral  refonn  and  when  the  United  States,  in 
November,  1918,  assumed  government  control  of  all  telegraph 
as  well  as  telephone  lines  in  the  countiy,  a  grandson  of  Rob- 
ert Parrett,  Union  Bethell,  was  placed  in  charge  of  them  all. 

Before  entering  more  fully  into  these  details,  it  will  be 
appropriate  to  give  an  outline  of  the  wider  movement  recog- 
nized at  the  time  l)y  leading  authority  in  Great  Britain  and 
America,  as  of  world-wide  importance,  and  of  which  the  Indi- 
ana colony  was  a  part. 

Usually  the  significance  of  local  histoiy  is  that  it  is  part 
of  a  greater  whole.  The  right  and  vital  sort  of  local  history  is 
the  sort  which  may  l)e  written  with  lifted  eyes — the  sort 
which  has  a  horizon  and  an  outlook  upon  the  world.'-' 

English  Emigration  to  America  After  1815 

The  four  British  colonies  in  America  were  parts  of  a 
single  movement,  resulting  from  the  same  causes.  Professor 
Sparks,  in  an  excellent  short  summarj'  of  the  movement,  says : 

"  Wood  row  Wilson.  The  Course  of  American  History,  216. 


I  git  hart:     Coming  of  the  Etiglish  to  Indiana  99 

KUKli^b  cttlnnlfs  wiTf  pliiiiti'*!  Ill  iMstt-ru  iVunsylvHiilii,  iiloiiK  tUe  Sus- 
quotiaiia  river;  in  I^jujc  IkIjiiuI,  New  York;  lii  tin*  Huutlii'rn  iH)rtloii  of  the 
State  of  Indiana,  and  in  Mouttjeasteni  IIlinoiH.  •  •  •  The  luoveiueut 
develoiKHl  at  tlie  time  of  the  riHonstriK'tion  jn'rlml  of  KuroiK'an  iilstor)', 
wlii'U  the  nations  were  atteniptiiiK  to  resiinie  tlieir  normal  e<."onouilc  reia- 
tiouH,  after  twenty  years  of  almost  oMitiniious  war.  •  •  •  The  iHH)ple 
blauuHl  all  their  niiserieK  upon  the  Kovernruent.is 

William  Cobbet.  in  his  dedication  to  Thomas  Hulme's 
Journal  of  a  tour  of  the  far  west  in  1818,  ascribes  the  activity 
of  the  latter  to  his  zeal  aj?ainst  the  twin  monsters,  tyranny 
and  priestcraft,  and  a  desire  to  assist  in  providing  a  retreat 
for  the  oppressed.  He  speaks  of  the  great  numlxjrs  of  immi- 
grants flocking  to  the  western  countries,  the  newest  of  the 
New  World,  toward  which  the  writings  of  Morris  Birkbeck 
had  called  their  pointed  attention.  Especially,  were  so  at- 
tracted those  Englishmen,  "who  having  something  left  to  be 
robbed  of,  and  wishing  to  preserve  it,  were  looking  towards 
America  as  a  place  of  refuge  from  the  borougliinongers  and 
the  Holy  Alliance."' ^ 

Hulmc  says  he  saw  that  the  incomes  of  his  childi*en  were 
all  pawned  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  borough  or  seat  owners. 
That  of  whatever  he  might  be  able  to  give  his  children,  which 
was  a  very  substantial  sum,  as  well  as  of  what  they  might  be 
able  to  earn,  more  than  one-half  would  be  taken  away  to  feed 
pensioned  lords  and  ladies,  "soldiers  to  shoot  at  us,  parsons 
to  persecute  us,  and  fundholders,  who  had  lent  their  money  to 
be  applied  to  purposes  of  enslaving  us.'^ 

Richard  Flower  said  in  his  letter  of  August  20,  1821,  that 
the  grand  reason  for  emigration  was  to  escape  that  over- 
whelming system  of  taxation,  which  had  diminished  the  prop- 
erty of  the  emigrants,  and  threatened,  if  they  staid  much 
longer,  to  swallow  up  th*^  whole.    He  adds: 

How  many  of  my  brother  farmers  have  lost  their  allV  H<»w  many  have 
been  added  to  the  list  of  |Min|ters.  sin<e  we  left  our  lK>love«l  roiiiitry,  news- 
paiKMs  and  private  letters,  aurkiiltnral  nut'tiufrs  and  parliamentary  pro- 
ceetlinys  re|Hirts  sutli<-i(>ntly  de*-lare."i 

"  Erie  Hp<irkB.  KngliaH  Settlement  in  the  llhuois.  introduction. 
"TliwalKn,  Early  Weatrrn  Truvrls,  X   19-21. 
»»Thwalte».  Ktirly  Western  Travtia,  X  23. 
»•  Id.   146. 


100  InilUinu  Magazine  of  History 

Rev.  John  Ingle,  of  Somersham,  so  often  mentioned  by 
Faux  in  his  Travels,  thus  writes  to  his  son,  John  Ingle,  of 
Saundersville,  eighteen  months  after  the  emigration  of  the 
hUter  to  the  Indiana  colony: 

I  U)ost  slucori'ly  cougratiilate  you  on  your  choice  nnd  successful  remov- 
ing from  your  niitive  country:  you  have  privations,  ynu  have  calculated 
uiK)n,  and  from  your  a«counts,  fewer  than  you  expected.  Had  you  stopped 
bere,  you  would  have  llve<l  somehow,  but  you  could  not  have  continued  in 
the  society  you  have  been  used  to.  Here  the  smaller  stations  of  property 
appear  prndually  wearing  to  ])auperlsm  and  the  prospect  before  us  Is  un- 
promising indeed ;  agriculture  dark,  commercial  and  maimfacluring  sta- 
tions no  less  so.  Prices  are  low.  markets  are  falling,  corn  traders  stopping, 
laborers  out  of  employ,  and  money  so  scarce  as  in  a  great  measure,  what 
can  be  omittiMl,  iM>ssibly.  is  umitted.  Poor  rates  are  enormous  and  api>ear- 
ances  seem  to  tell  us  they  will  still  increase. 

Faux  gives  as  the  reason  of  James  Maidlow  for  emi- 
grating, that  after  a  fair  trial,  with  a  large  farm,  he  found 
it  impossible  to  fann,  without  losing  money. 

Payton  Wheeler,  a  tradesman  from  Chelsea,  told  Faux 
that  having  a  wife  and  eight  children,  he  was  determined  on 
emigration  by  soberly  looking  into  his  affairs  and  finding 
that  he  had  an  increasing  family,  and  decreasing  property, 
having  lost  during  his  last  year,  among  his  tradsemen,  1,500 
pounds.  Birkbeck,  in  his  Notes,  is  thus  quoted  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Review: 

A  Nation,  with  half  its  jiopulation  supportetl  by  alms,  or  poor-rates, 
and  one-fourth  of  its  income  derive<l  from  taxes,  many  of  which  are  dried 
up  in  their  sources,  or  siiee<lily  becoming  so,  must  teem  with  emigrants  from 
one  end  to  the  other,  and.  for  such  as  myself,  who  have  had  "mtthing  to 
do  with  the  laws  but  obey  them."  it  is  quite  reasonable  and  just  to  secure 
a  timely  retreat  from  the  approaching  crisis — either  of  anarchy  or 
despotism. 

An  Knglish  farmer,  tu  which  il.iss  I  had  the  Imnitr  to  belong,  is  in 
possession  of  the  .same  rights  and  privileges  with  the  villeins  of  old  time, 
and  exhibits  for  the  most  part,  a  suitable  political  character.  He  has  no 
voice  In  the  api>ointmeut  of  the  legislature,  unless  he  hapi>en  to  possess  a 
freehold  of  forty  shillings  a  year,  and  he  is  then  expected  to  vote  In  the 
Interest  of  his  lamllord.  He  has  no  concern  with  public  affairs,  excepting 
as  a  tax-payer,  a  jiarish  officer,  or  a  militiaman.  He  has  no  right  to  appear 
at  a  county  meeting,  unless  the  word  Inhabitant  .should  find  its  way  into  the 
sheriflTs  invitation:  in  this  case  he  may  show  his  face  among  the  nobility, 
clergy,  and  f reeh»>lders ;  a  felicity  which  once  occurred  to  my.self,  when  the 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         101 

inhultiUiuts  of  Surrey  were  luvlted  to  atMittt   ibe  geutry   ia  crying  dowu 
the  lui'ome  Tax. 

Thus,  having  no  eltH-tlve  franrUlse,  an  KnKll^h  fanner  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  a  |>oUtlcal  exlstemH*;  aud  i>ollUcal  duties  he  has  none,  except 
such  as,  under  existing  clrrunistances,  would  Inevitably  consign  blm  to  the 
special  guardlanshl|)  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  home  department. 

Following:  this,  the  Revieiv.  concedes  that  "whoever  pre- 
fers his  own  to  any  other  country,  as  a  place  of  residence, 
must  be  content  to  pay  an  enormous  price  for  the  g-ratification 
of  his  wish."'"  The  Rerieiv  reproves  the  writers  of  works  of 
travel  and  the  magazines  which  manifested  hatred  of  Amer- 
ica, and  things  American,  and  it  shows  an  appreciation  of 
American  growth  and  coming  greatness,  prophetic  of  what 
the  world  concedes  today. 

Confirming  the  experience  of  Hulme  and  others,  as  to  re- 
lig-ious  persecution,  Saunders  Hombrook,  Sr.,  the  father  of 
the  British  settlement  in  Indiana,  whose  mother,  Barbara, 
was  the  daughter  of  Rev  S.  Richards,  of  Calstock,  in  Devon- 
shire, a  Unitarian  minister,  gave  as  his  reason  for  emigration, 
in  addition  to  business  depression,  the  fact  that  he  was  fined 
a  shilling  for  attendance  at  the  Unitarian  chapel  of  each 
member  of  his  family  and  household. 

As  early  as  the  end  of  1816  the  problem  of  emigration 
from  Great  Britain  to  America  had  become  a  serious  on6, 
both  to  the  British  government,  and  to  the  people  of  America. 
In  New  York  alone  nearly  2,000  such  emigrants  who,  accord- 
ing to  John  Bradbur>',  foolishly  remained  about  the  cities  till 
their  money  gave  out,  were  stranded  and  appealed  to  their 
home  government  for  aid.  Competition  among  laborers  was 
great,  as  emigrants  were  arriving  from  all  of  the  nations  of 
Europe.  In  February,  1817,  the  British  consul  in  New  York, 
by  newspaper  advertisement,  announced  "the  important  priv- 
ilege to  such  English  emigrants,  to  settle  in  upper  Canada  or 
Nova  Scotia."  This  indicated  the  scheme  of  a  British  colony, 
charged  in  the  American  press  to  be  the  result  of  the  work 
of  a  British  spy.  Colonies  west  of  the  mountains  were  then 
urged  on  account  of  a  temperate  climate  better  adapted  to 

"  KdJnburifh  Review.  1818.  Vol.  -\XX.   123. 


102  I)i<fiana  Magazine  of  History 

settlers,  than  the  rigorous  weather  of  upper  Canada  and  Nova 
Scotia. 

An  ambitious  plan  of  western  colonization  on  a  large  scale 
to  provide  for  such  emigrants  as  preferred  to  remain  in  the 
United  States,  was  outlined  in  detail  in  an  American  maga- 
zine in  July,  1817.'^  Bradbury's  Travels  in  1809,  1810  and 
1811  published  in  August.  1817,  gave  a  most  favorable  de- 
scription of  the  scattered  people  of  the  west  and  recommended 
colonies  for  mutual  protection  of  emigrants,  which  practice, 
he  says,  was  not  confined  to  newcomers  only,  but  was  fre- 
quently adopted  among  old  settlers.  Referring  to  the  latter, 
he  says : 

Witli  whom  it  is  a  continn:!!  bond  of  .unity  niul  social  iiitorooursp,  and 
in  no  part  of  the  world  is  >:ood  ni>iKhl)orsliij»  found  in  greater  i>erfectiou 
tiian  iu  the  western  territory  or  in  America  peuerally. 

Morris  Birkbeck's  Notes  came  out  in  Philadelphia,  in  the 
fall  of  1817,  before  they  were  published  in  England.  William 
Darby's  Enii^graoits'  Guide,  giving  full  directions  to  emi- 
grants, was  published  in  America  about  the  same  time.  In 
the  May  number,  1818,  of  the  AnaUctic  Review,  appeared  a 
review  of  both  of  these  works,  in  which  the  writer  refers  ap- 
provingly to  Birkbeck's  scheme  and  says  that  his  "plans  in 
the  State  of  Indiana,  bid  fair  to  bring  about  the  realization  of 
our  more  flattering  hopes."  Birkbeck's  colony  was  in  Illinois, 
on  the  edge  of  the  prairie  beyond  the  heavy  timber  belt  in 
Indiana,  which  extended  to  the  Wabash  river.  His  temporary 
headquarters  were,  however,  in  Indiana  and  he  refers  to  the 
people  of  the  latter  State  in  his  work. 

When  the  movement  among  the  better  class  of  British  emi- 
grants followed  that  of  the  more  shiftless  or  unfortunate 
class  mentioned,  the  former  sent  out  agents  to  western  Amer- 
ica to  look  at  the  country  and  make  recommendations.  Such 
an  agent  was  William  Bradshaw  Fearon,  a  London  physician, 
who  was  unfairly  denounced  as  untruthful  by  Cobbett,  of  the 
Long  Island  colony,  and  as  an  agent  of  the  British  govern- 
ment by  George  Flower.  Referring  to  the  character  of  men 
and  women,  who  were  a  correct  type  of  the  leaders  of  the 

"  Analectic  Review,  Phila.  X.  52. 


Igh'hart:     Coniing  of  the  English  to  Indiana         103 

first  English  settlement  in  Indiana,  as  well  as,  we  have  reason 
to  believe,  the  Illinois  settlement,  Mr.  Fearon  says,  in  sub- 
stance.'" 

At  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  the  agent  of  thirty- 
nine  English  families  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  a  location  in  the  west,  emigration  had  assumed  a  new 
character.  It  was  no  longer  merely  the  poor,  the  idle,  the 
profligate  or  the  wildly  speculative,  who  were  proposing  to 
quit  their  native  country,  but  men  also  of  capital,  of  industry, 
of  sober  and  regular  pursuits;  men  of  reflection,  who  appre- 
hended approaching  evils;  men  of  upright  and  conscientious 
minds,  to  whose  happiness  civil  and  religious  liberty  were  es- 
sential. And  men  of  domestic  feeling,  who  wished  to  provide 
for  the  future  support  and  prosperity  of  their  offspring. 

The  design  of  emigrating  by  colony  to  Illinois  was  formed 
by  Morris  Birkbeck,  who  in  1817,  in  Philadelphia  and  in  1818 
in  London,  published  his  Notes  of  his  journey  and  described 
his  plans,  his  location,  in  the  small  prairies  of  Illinois  adjoin- 
ing timber  land,  and  its  advantages.  His  appeal  to  the 
British  people  met  with  a  response  of  approval  so  general  as 
to  alarm  the  partisans  of  the  goverimient,  and  to  provoke 
from  them  attacks  upon  America  and  things  American ;  trav- 
elers like  Fearon  and  Faux  were  biased  with  this  spirit.  It 
was  said  of  him  by  Faux  that  "no  man  since  Columbus,  had 
done  so  much  toward  peopling  America,  as  Morris  Birbeck." 

To  Birkbeck  more  than  all  others,  was  due  the  first  leader- 
ship of  the  colony,  in  the  prairie  of  Illinois,  as  well  as  of  other 
emigrants  in  the  far  west,  at  this  time,  who  did  not  join  his 
colony.  He  was  a  highly  educated  man.  a  large  and  successful 
tenant  farmer,  of  1,500  acres,  called  Wanborough,  near  Guil- 
ford, in  the  county  of  Surrey.  He  had  accumulated  property 
which  he  converted  into  about  55,000  dollars  cash,  which  he 
invested  in  his  scheme  of  emigration.  A  large  number  of  his 
employees  and  former  tenants  joined  him  and  became  tenants 
or  small  purchasers  of  land  from  him.  Some  returned  to 
England.     Flleven  editions   in   English   of   Birkbeck's   Notes 

•»  Fearon 'b  Hketchra  of  America,  Introduction.  "Almoat  eviry  vessel  from 
EnRlancI  brlriRH  iiiorv  or  less  paaBenRcrti — the  iiirrfiit  of  IminiKrutlon  la  steady, 
and  of  very  r»j«p«ctable  character."    S'iUa'  Jtigiater,  May  17,  1817,  V.  XII,  p.  185. 


104  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

were  published  during  1817,  1818  and  1819,  in  Philadelphia, 
London.  Dublin  and  Cork,  and  a  German  translation  was 
published  in  Jena  in  1818.-"  His  Letters  from  Illinois  were 
pul)lished  in  seven  editions  in  P^nglish  in  1818,  and  in  1819 
were  translated  into  French  and  German, 

George  Flower  was  the  son  of  Richard  Flower,  who  was 
a  large  brewer  at  Hertford,  the  county  town  of  Hertfordshire, 
who  had  retired  from  business  after  acquiring  a  competence, 
and  lived  upon  a  beautiful  estate  called  Marden.  He  was  the 
head  of  a  prominent  family,  still  influential  in  England.  He 
placed  a  large  sum  at  the  disposal  of  his  son,  George,  then  29 
years  of  age,  and  personally  joined  him  in  promoting  the  suc- 
cess of  the  colony  where  he  lived  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Birkbeck  and  Flower  sought  to  buy  an  entire  township  of 
alxnit  40,000  acres,  but  this  required  an  act  of  congress  to 
make  an  exception  to  the  government  method  of  selling  land, 
and  that  plan  failed.  The  scheme  outlined  in  Birkbeck's 
Notes  was  therefore  modified  and  Birkbeck  and  Flower 
bought  16,000  acres  in  one  body  and  other  tracts  were  from 
time  to  time  added  by  them  and  by  individual  purchases.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  Birkbeck  and  Flower  might  have  obtained 
the  privilege  of  buying  one  or  more  townships  of  land  in  a 
body  without  its  offer  at  public  sale,  if  the  Hibernian  soci- 
eties of  New  York.  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  had  not  at 
the  same  time  petitioned  congress  for  large  concessions  to  the 
Irish  emigrants  for  colonization  in  bodies  in  the  west.  The 
House  of  Representatives,  by  a  decisive  vote,  adopted  a  com- 
mittee report  adverse  to  these  petitions,  and  which  called  at- 
tention to  others  without  naming  them,  doubtless  including 
that  of  Birkbeck  and  Flower.'-'  An  unfortunate  breach  be- 
tween the  two  men  at  the  very  beginning  of  their  plans  pre- 
vented them  ever  meeting  or  acting  together  and  the  two  men 
organized  rival  towns,  Birkbeck  at  Wanboro  and  Flower  at 
Albion,  only  a  few  miles  apart.  Birkl)eck  died  in  1825  and 
Wanboro  later  disappeared,  Albion  became  the  county  seat 
and  absorbed  the  business  of  the  former  town.  Birkbeck  was 
the  practical  farmer.     Before  his  emigration,  he  enjoyed  a 

""Solon  Justii.s  Buck.     lUinoia  in  ISM.  112. 
"Silea-  Weekly  Repister.  1818,  XR',  256  and  280. 


Jglehati:     Comhw  of  the  English  in  Indiana         105 

widespread  celebrity  as  being  one  of  the  first  practical  as  well 
as  theoretical  fanners  of  tlie  kingdom.  His  premature  and 
early  death  by  drowning  in  1825  cut  short  his  plans,  and  the 
loss  of  Flower  in  Birkbeck's  alienation  and  death,  just  at  the 
time  of  an  expected  reconciliation,  was  very  great,  equally  to 
their  original  scheme  and  to  George  Flower  personally. 

Flower  was  not  raised  a  farmer  and  when  he  built  Park 
House  in  the  winter  of  1818-19  for  his  father,  later  occupied 
by  himself,  it  was  for  years  maintained  much  as  a  great 
county  estate  in  England.  It  was  said  when  built  to  be  the 
finest  house  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains. 

To  Morris  Birkbeck  belongs  the  credit  of  the  conception  of 
the  English  colony  in  the  prairie  of  Illinois,  a  publication  of 
the  description  of  the  country,  and  a  presentation  of  states- 
manlike view  of  the  advantages  of  the  far  west  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  old  world,  then  considering  emigration.  This 
exerted  an  extraordinary  influence  upon  the  British  people. 
While  in  America,  his  son  in  England  fitted  out  a  ship,  char- 
tered by  him,  which  brought  a  ship  load  of  emigrants  and 
supplies  in  April,  1818.  He  was  nominated  secretary  of  state 
ad  interim  of  the  new  State  of  Ilfinois  and  on  political 
grounds,  only,  the  senate  refused  to  confirm  his  appointment. 
His  intimacy  with  Governor  Edward  Coles,  while  the  latter 
was  on  a  diplomatic  mission  abroad,  before  he  became  gov- 
ernor, is  believed  to  have  influenced  his  selection  of  Illinois, 
as  a  field  for  his  emigration  scheme.  He  is  recognized  by  the 
best  authority  as  among  the  first  men  of  the  State,  in  defeating 
the  attempt  to  impose  slavery  on  the  Stiite  by  a  new  constitu- 
tion.-'- Richard  Flower  was  so  recognized  by  Governor  Coles, 
who  appealed  to  him  personally  for  aid  in  that  crisis.-''.  Birk- 
beck's descendants  in  America  and  Australia,  have  been  and 
are  highly  respectable  and  successful  people,  some  of  them  of 
much  prominence. 

To  George  Flower  belongs  the  credit  of  co-operation  with 
Birkbeck,  the  puI)lication  of  Birkbeck's  Notes,  one  copy  of 
which   he  carried   to   Philadelphia   and   one   to   London,   the 

^  Wilwiiljurn,  Sketch  of  Edward  Colea.  188;  Dwiglit  Hurrls.  Negro  Servitudt 
in  lllinoit,  44. 

"  Wunhburn'e  Sketchea  of  Edicard  Colea,  145. 


106  Indiana  Magazine  of  Hii^tnnj 

chartering  of  ships,  the  creation  of  Albion  as  a  going  con- 
cern and  the  devotion  of  his  Hfe  to  the  work  in  which  Richard 
Flower,  his  father,  joined  and  invested  a  large  fortune  for 
that  time. 

Richard  Flower,  in  1824,  was  commissioned  by  George 
Rapp.  the  head  of  the  New  Harmony  settlement,  to  sell  out 
the  property  of  the  Rappite  colony  and  Flower  visited  Scot- 
land and  interested  Robert  Owen,  who  made  the  purchase  In 
that  year.  It  appears  that  Flower  found  Owen  as  the  pur- 
chaser.-^ 

George  Flower  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  and 
of  large  natural  ability.  His  descendants  have  almost,  with- 
out exception,  been  remarkable  people  intellectually.  His 
grandson.  Rev.  George  F.  Pentecost,  D.  D.,  still  living  in  Phil- 
adelphia, in  the  active  ministry  in  a  great  church  at  75,  has 
been  and  remains  one  of  the  most  eloquent,  able  and  remark- 
able men  in  the  American  pulpit. 

Enormous  sums  of  motley  were  spent  in  many  ways  veiy 
early  by  the  Flowers  for  the  betterment  and  improvement  of 
the  colony  and  its  inhabitants  and  to  attract  emigrants.  They, 
with  Birkbeck,  were  broad,  liberal  and  philanthropic.  Their 
money  so  lavishly  spent,  was  not  a  wise  financial  investment 
in  the  primitive  state  of  society  and  economic  development  of 
the  country,  then  just  commencing.  The  final  success  of  the 
prairie  agricultural  colony  was  to  be  from  the  labor  of  the 
individual  farmer  and  his  family,  acting  independently.  Large 
sums  invested  so  far  in  advance  of  the  times  in  the  wilder- 
ness, were  never  returned  and  George  Flower  and  his  wife 
lived  to  endure  "pinching  penury"  in  the  neighborhood  of  his 
former  grandeur.  He  and  his  wife  died  the  same  day  at 
Grayville.  Illinois.  January  15,  1862. 

The  Illinois  Settlement 

It  i.^  not  our  purpose  to  repeat  the  story  of  the  founding 
of  the  Illinois  settlement  and  its  gradual  evolution  into  an 
intelligent  and  successful   agricultural   community   with   the 

**  George  Flower.  Hiatory  of  the  Enghih  Settlement  in  Edicarda  Count]/,  61, 
note. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         107 

attractive  and  cultured  county  seat  of  Albion.  Birkbeck's 
and  Flower's  works  conUiin  a  full  account  of  the  details. 
Professor  Sparks'  English  ScttlcmetU  in  Illinois  is  merely  a 
reprint  of  interestinjf  letters  of  Richard  Flower,  and  Morris 
Birkl>eck.  descriptive  of  the  times  and  country  in  their  rela- 
tionship to  this  emiyrration.  He  did  not  claim  to  have  before 
him  all  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  progress  of  that  settlement, 
nor  any  acquaintance  with  the  community  necessary  for  a  de- 
termination of  the  question  of  the  success  of  the  Illinois  colony 
of  which  he  speaks  in  unfavorable  terms.  His  statement  that 
a  very  few  descendants  of  the  English  settlers  are  yet  to  be 
found  in  Edwards  county  would  seem  to  be  a  misappre- 
hension. 

The  purpose  of  all  of  these  English  emigrants  in  Illinois 
and  Indiana  was  not  to  form  English  colonies  in  America, 
with  English  customs  or  laws,  "or  with  a  separate  or  inde- 
pendent existence.  This  was  the  opposite  of  Birkbeck's  scheme 
outlined  in  his  Notes.  It  was  rather  their  movement  together 
into  a  new  country  for  the  betterment  of  men  and  women  of 
common  hopes  and  aims.  It  was  to  become  pioneers  and 
citizens  of  a  democratic  republic,  where  the  oppressive  bur- 
den of  rents,  tithes,  poor  rates  and  taxes  from  which  they  fled, 
practically  had  no  existence.  They  came,  too,  like  the  Pilgrims 
of  old,  to  seek  freedom  from  oppression,  including  freedom  to 
worship  God.  All  of  the  Americans  were  emigrants  or  de- 
scendants of  emigrants.  The  English  settlers  ceased  to  be 
foreigners,  they  became  Americans,  with  all  others. 

The  success,  in  a  sense,  of  an  English  settlement  in  the 
beginning  of  a  community  like  this,  lay  in  its  perfect  union 
with  all  the  better  elements  of  population  as  then  came  into 
the  country,  and  they  came  rapidly.  Its  highest  success  lay 
in  the  extent  of  its  contributions  to  the  building  of  character 
among  the  people,  to  the  elevation  of  ideals,  to  the  establish- 
ment of  public  opinion,  based  on  correct  stiindards  of  right 
and  wrong,  leadership  in  establishing  public  imprownonts, 
churches,  school  houses,  introducing  good  stock,  in  creating 
improved  farms,  early  roads,  bridges  and  mills,  and  later, 
canals,  railroads,  telegraph  and  a  system  of  public  education. 


108  Indiana  Maijazinc  of  Hu^tory 

as  well  as  everythinir  enterinjr  into  the  make-up  of  good 
society. 

Many  of  these  things  were  introduced  by  Birkbeck  and 
Flower  in  the  very  beginning  at  enonnous  expense  never  re- 
turned to  them,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  influence  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers  most  of  them  came  sooner  than  they  would  have 
come  without  that  aid.  Such  was  distinctly  the  result  in 
southwestern  Indiana  of  the  permanent  location  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers  in  Vanderburgh  county. 

Mr.  Walter  Colyer,  of  Albion,  himself  a  descendant  of  one 
of  the  English  settlers,  was  for  nearly  twenty  years  editor 
of  the  Albion  Journal,  during  which  period  he  gathered  much 
material  relating  to  tlie  Illinois  settlement,  with  a  view  to 
utilizing  it  in  various  ways.  During  the  past  fifteen  years, 
since  quitting  the  newspaper  field,  his  stock  of  material  has 
increased.  He  has  written  and  published  a  number  of  ar- 
ticles upon  the  subject,  a  number  for  the  Illinois  Historical 
Society,  of  which  for  many  years  he  has  been  a  director.  He 
has  an  invaluable  collection  of  books  and  pamphlets  on  the 
subject  which  have  been  of  much  value  to  the  writer  in  ex- 
tending his  investigation  to  the  Illinois  settlement.  He  is 
best  qualified  of  any  person  living  to  answer  the  inquiry  as 
to  what  impress  the  English  settlement  in  Edwards  county 
has  left  today  upon  the  community  in  which  it  was  located. 
Answering  that  question  put  to  him,  he  gives,  in  a  letter,  the 
following  relevant  facts: 

As  uiany  as  seven  huiidreil  English  iie<ii»le  found  a  iH»rnianent  settle- 
ment nnd  home  In  Edwards  county  In  the  early  years  of  the  colony,  to  say 
nothinp  of  the  hundro<ls  of  others  who  continued  to  migrate  from  England 
to  the  En;:lish  settlement,  f<>r  Hfty  years  afterwards. 

The  great  majority  of  those  people  diiMl  here  in  Edwards  county,  and 
the  day  you  were  In  .Mblon  many  hundre<ls  of  their  desi-endants  were  on 
the  fairgrounds  to  attend  the  Centennial  Celebration.  I  have  no  means  of 
knowine  how  ninny  of  those  desceJidants  wore  pres<Mit.  but  it  is  tjuite  likely 
that  tliey  <'omiiri.>Je<l  from  one-third  to  on^-lialf  of  the  total  attendance. 

Pklwnrds  Is  a  county  in  which  approximately  nineteen-twentieths  of  the 
farmers  reside  on  their  own  farms,  and  farm  mortgages  are  the  exception 
nnd  not  the  rule.  The  delinquent  tax  list,  published  once  a  year,  has  nu- 
merous times  been  i)rlnt«l  in  less  than  one  column  of  .space  in  a  local 
new.si>aper.  There  has  not  be<'n  a  saloon  in  Albion,  the  county  seat,  for 
more  than  forty-five  years,  and  none  In  the  entire  county  for  that  period 


lijhhart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiatia         109 

with  the  exception  uf  one  for  a  brief  time  at  Browim  Aoiiie  fifteen  yearg  ago. 
Thert'  are  but  two" trrins  of  cln-nlt  court  In  tlu'  county  n  year,  am!  It  ban 
Huuiet  1  uies  ba|i|K*iit><l  court  bas  ailjouruttl  witbout  a  Jury  trial  or  tbi*  return 
of  an  indictuient.  In  a  butidreti  yearM  tbere  bave  tM>eu  but  fuurti*en  bunii- 
ddes  an<l  in  but  tbrec  InstantvH  was  tbe  IcilliuK  done  for  any  caune  but 
self  <h'fens«v 

Kilwards  is  a  county  in  wlildi  practically  every  farmer  owns  a  tele- 
pbone.  subs*«rlbeK  for  a  Io«'al  newspain-r  ami  reads  tbe  fbtcajjo.  St.  I>ouiM  or 
Rvansville  dallies.  It  bas  been  eonipiit«>4l  tliat  Kdwards  county  bas  a  greater 
number  of  automobiles  In  pro|Mirtion  to  |>opulatlon  tban  any  otber  <-ounty. 
save  one.  In  Illinois.  Tlie  jK'r  capltji  of  wealtb  Is  >rreati>r  and  tbe  standard 
of  Intelligence  bibber  tlian  In  most  of  tbe  counties  of  soutbern  Illinois. 
Two-tbirds  of  tbe  farmers  bave  a  .substantial  balance  to  tbelr  credit  in  a 
local  bank. 

Tbe  «\)nnty  Is  famous  for  tbe  fact  tbat  Its  <'ounty  Jail,  as  well  as  the 
county  alnjshouse.  is  often  unoccupie<l  for  montbs  at  a  time,  and  tbe  Jailer 
niak(>s  bis  living  by  other  means.  It  can  also  be  sjild  with  truth  tliat  Ed- 
wards is  a  county  In  which  high  school,  college  or  university  graduates, 
can  be  foimd  sprlnkle^l  about  on  alnxist  every  .sjH-tlou  of  land. 

Tbo.«e  who  were  born,  renretl  and  trainetl  In  Kdwards  county,  have 
carrltnl  the  Indelible  impress  of  their  early  environment  to  other  States  or 
countries,  have  In  the  great  majority  of  Instances  prospered  and  done  honor 
to  the  pbu'e  of  tbcir  birth.  Many  of  tbem  bave  become  fanu><l  as  e<lltors. 
lawyers,  statesmen,  doctors,  mi.ssloniries.  preachers,  lecturers,  e^lucators, 
engineers,  scientists,  travellers,  and  successful  men  in  various  lines  of 
industry.  One  became  tbe  owner  of  a  lariie  FIJI  Island  and  amassed  a 
great  fortune. 

Of  Albion,  tbe  county  seat  of  Fklwards  county,  tbe  town  founded  by 
George  Flower  a  bundretl  years  .-igo.  it  may  be  intere.><ting  to  note  that  It 
contains  itractic.-illy  twice  as  many  pianos  .-is  dogs,  and  that  it  has  more 
miles  of  brick  pavtnl  streets  than  any  otber  city  of  its  population  In  soutbern 
Illinois.  It  may  1k'  worth  observing  tbat  tbe  «-ity  c.-ilaboose  is  o<X'upled 
warcely  once  a  year. 

It  appeals  that  the  settlements  of  the  Enprlish  and  Irish, 
with  a  few  Scotch,  in  the  west,  were  destined,  both  in  Illinios 
and  in  Indiana,  to  give  color  and  tone  to  the  society,  manners 
and  customs  of  the  people  with  whom  they  mingled. 

The  Indiana  Settlement 

The  facts  which  led  IIorn!)i-ook  to  refuse  the  terms  oflFered 
him  by  the  promoters  of  the  Illinois  colony  and  to  select  a 
location  in  the  southern  Indiana  wilderness,  which  imme- 
diately became  a  nucleus  for  a  British  colony  in  Indiana,  do 


110  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

not  all  lie  upon  the  surface,  or  fully  appear  in  the  reasons 
already  given  for  that  step. 

There  was  something  in  the  headship  of  one  or  two  per- 
sons over  others,  especially  strong  men,  in  the  direction  and 
domination  of  the  most  important  step,  in  the  change  of  home 
and  country,  that  was  tolerated  in  England,  but  wholly  for- 
eign to  American  soil  and  life.  It  appears  that  Birkbeck  and 
Flower  could  not  agree  and  organized  rival  towns.  Whatever 
the  cause  assigned  for  the  quarrel,  it  was  true,  then  as  now, 
that  there  could  be  but  one  leader  to  a  single  movement. 

The  natives  called  Birkbeck  the  Czar  of  the  prairies. 
Flower,  as  stated,  lived  in  the  finest  house  west  of  the  Alle- 
gheny mountains,  and  in  an  unusual  degree  brought  into  the 
far  west  English  life  and  comforts  at  a  great  expense.  Both 
these  men  saw  the  future  of  the  country  and  that  empires 
were  to  be  established  in  the  new  western  States. 

The  power  of  organization,  leadership  and  money  had  its 
limits,  and  the  success  of  the  farmer  lay  in  the  products  of 
the  soil,  only  to  be  obtained  by  a  life  of  hard  labor.  Hired 
labor  could  not  be  obtained  to  accomplish  that  result.  ^len 
would  not  work  for  others  when  their  work  for  themselves 
would  pay  for  their  farm. 

There  was  another  circumstance  which  exerted  some  in- 
fluence upon  the  members  of  the  Indiana  colony.  A  number 
of  the  leaders  of  the  emigrants  in  the  Indiana  colony  were 
men  of  Puritan  faith  and  principles,  which  moulded  their 
lives  and  characters.  They  believed  implicitly  in  God's  provi- 
dence in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  that  moral  forces  rule  the 
world.  The  moral  and  religious  supremacy  of  the  Indiana 
settlement  was  early  one  of  its  distinguishing  features.  Its 
ministers  and  many  of  its  leaders  believed  in  positive  and 
demonstrative  Christianity  as  opposed  to  mere  forms.  They 
were  not.  however,  subject  to  the  criticism  made  against  the 
backwoodsmen,  where  public  worship  was  very,  often  directed 
and  controlled  by  ignorant  and  uncouth  native  ministers. 

George  Flower  says:-" 

Rivjjls  of  the  settlement,  ejist  of  the  uiount.iins  f»et  on   foot  every 
disimrajrinK  report  ns  to  health,  success,  provisions,  uiomls  and  reliRion. 
"Sparks.  History  of  Enfflish  Settlement  in  Edicards  Counti/,  166. 


lylchart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Iiidiana         111 

Upon  i\n  c'lniirraiiL  reiusir.g  to  land  at  Shawneetown  on  one 
occasion,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  chuich  services  in  the 
prairie  settlement,  arrany:einents  were  made  for  a  shoemaker, 
Mr.  Crown,  to  read  printed  seimons  at  Wanboro,  in  a  little 
cabin,  and  another  layman  read  the  Episcopal  service  in  the 
public  library  at  Albion.  On  the  arrival  of  Richard  Flower 
in  1819,  he  "preached"  regularly  every  Sunday,  the  dissenters 
service  without  church  organization. 

The  slaveholders  who  attacked  liirkbeck,  denounced  him 
unfairly,  as  an  infidel.  He  had,  in  one  of  his  letters  (No.  20), 
admitted  writing  a  preacher  who  offered  to  come  to  his  colony 
to  fight  infidelity  and  bigotry  saying  he  had  not  a  word  to  say 
to  that  offer  "dissuasive  or  encouraging"  and  that  bigotry  "is 
a  disease  for  which  I  think  no  remedy  is  so  effective  as  letting 
alone."  The  preacher  did  not  come.  The  press  attacked  him 
for  his  alleged  irreligion  in  other  utterances. 

The  Eclectic  Review  of  1818  denounced  as  a  profane  jest 
his  motto  on  the  title  page  of  his  letters,  "Vox  clamantis  e 
deserto."  The  same  motto  is  used  in  a  similar  manner  in  the 
Xew  Pi'.rvhase,  Chap.  X,  by  a  prominent  Presbyterian  divine 
in  a  description  of  pioneer  life  in  Indiana,  with  seeming 
propriety. 

No  doubt  there  was  unfair  criticism  of  the  "theology"  of 
these  promoters,  but  the  absence  of  ministers,  with  a  prac- 
tical rebuff  to  one  who  desired  to  come  to  the  Wanboro  set- 
tlement, had  its  effect  upon  some  of  the"  deeply  spiritual  and 
religious  men  among  the  emigrants.  Father  Parrett  and 
Father  Wheeler,  who  settled  in  the  Indiana  colony  in  1819, 
were  educated  Wosleyan  ministers  and  for  a  generation  ex- 
ercised great  influence  among  the  people  with  whom  religion 

was  a  matter  of  the  first  importance. 

How  far  the  personal  equation  figured  in  the  creation  of 
two  colonies  instead  of  one,  one  in  Illinois  and  one  in  Indiana, 
cannot  now  be  determined.  Flower's  book  was  written  at  the 
end  of  a  long  life,  after  he  had  ceased  to  be  a  part  of  it,  giv- 
ing many  interesting  details  of  the  founding  of  the  Illinois 
colony.  He  outlines  fully  the  world-wide  importance  of 
the  step.     He  omits  to  give  credit  to  many  others  for  the 


112  ImUana  Magazine  of  History 

work  of  establishing  the  colony  on  a  practical  basis,  claiming, 
it  is  said,  undue  credit  for  himself  and  Birkbeck.-- 

Elias  P.  Fordham  is  described  by  Colyer  as  "the  main 
stay  of  the  Eng-lish  settlement,"  who  was  the  leader  in  many 
practical  affairs  of  vital  importance.  The  records  of  Ed- 
wards county  show  he  collected  his  surveyor's  fees  for  sur- 
veying Albion  by  a  judgment  in  court  against  Richard  Flower. 
Not  long  afterwards  Fordham  left  the  settlement  and  re- 
turned to  England. 

In  Hartt's  Centennial  History  of  Hliyiois-'^  there  is  a  strong 
implication  that  James  Lawrence,  an  English  tailor,  a  pic- 
turesque character,  had  been  overlooked  by  the  historians  of 
the  Illinois  settlement. 

Nowhere  in  Flower's  book  is  any  reference  made  to  the 
British  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  nor  to  the  publication  of 
Dr.  C.  B.  Johnson  in  1819-1820,  containing  a  prospectus  of 
that  settlement  as  a  preface  to  his  Letters  from  the  British 
Settlement  in  Pennsylvania.  In  this  book,  Johnson  followed 
the  line  of  Birkbeck's  letters  and  attracted  much  attention  in 
England  and  America.  Dr.  Johnson,  besides  attacking  the 
promoters  of  the  prairie  colony,  when  in  New  York,  later 
became  an  active  promoter  of  the  Pennsylvania  colony,  urged 
as  containing  greater  advantages  than  a  colony  so  far  west, 
either  in  "Illinois  or  Indiana."  The  Pennsylvania  colony  was 
organized  in  1819  at  a  meeting  of  a  number  of  Englishmen 
who  had  been  attracted  by  Birkbeck's  Notes  and  had  come  to 
America  intending  to  join  his  colony.  Its  short  history  is 
interesting  and  sheds  light  on  the  present  inquiiy. 

On  reaching  New  York.  Dr.  C.  B.  Johnson,  on  his  way  to 
Illinois,  met  Cobbett.  who  placed  before  him  the  advantages 
of  settling  east  of  the  mountains,  and  the  hardships,  ill 
health  and  suffering  in  the  far  west,  and  poisoned  his  mind 
both  against  Birkbeck  and  George  Flower  personally,  upon 
which  Johnson  attacked  the  western  settlement  and  person- 
ally attacked  George  Flower  and  P>irkl>eck.-'-'  Similar  at- 
tacks were  made  in  England  about  the  same  time. 

~  Adflr'^fs  of  W.'iltfr  Colyrr  nn  tlie  Konlhanis  and  La  SerrfS  of  the  English 
settlement  In  Edwards  County:  in.  State  His.  Soc.  Prof.  1911,  p.   4S. 

»Chlc.TKo  Sunday  Tribune,  Dec  1.  1918. 

"  GoorKe  Flower.  History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County, 
Illinois.  195. 


lyUhart:     Comin(j  of  the  English  to  Indiana         113 

As  one  of  a  conimilteo  of  five  he  made  a  contract  with  Dr. 
Robert  H.  Rose  for  an  option  to  buy  a  maximum  amount  of 
forty  thousand  acres  in  Susquehanna  county,  or  any  smaller 
amount,  for  an  Knjrlish  colony.  Ro.se  held  one  hundred  thou- 
sand acres  in  a  body  extending  into  eight  townships.  He 
had,  several  years  previously,  advertised  substantially  the 
same  scheme  of  a  colony  and  had  established  a  settlement 
of  New  England  farmers  on  the  tract.  Although  his  terms 
were  easy,  between  April,  ISl.*],  and  September,  1815,  over 
one  hundred  suits  had  been  brought  against  New  England 
settlers  unable  to  pay  the  price  of  three  dollars  per  acre. 

In  1818  Rose  advertised  still  easier  terms  to  settlers, 
bought  out  the  small  improvements  of  the  New  England  set- 
tlers who  had  made  small  clearings  and  sold  them  to  the 
English,  who  undertook  to  carry  on  the  scheme  which  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  New  Englanders.  The  English  re- 
mained only  three  or  four  years  and  the  settlement  failed.-"^ 

A  third  colony,  of  negroes,  was  established  by  Rose  and 
proved  a  still  greater  failure.  Finally  the  location  was  set- 
tled by  Irish  laborers,  who  were  stranded  in  the  country  on 
the  failure  in  the  construction  of  a  canal. 

To  Dr.  Johnson's  volume  as  a  preface  was  prefixed  a  pros- 
pectus by  the  Philadelphia  committee,  stating  with  detail  the 
scheme  of  the  Pennsylvania  colony,  and  showing  that  the 
amount  of  additional  cost  of  an  emigrant  going  to  the  far 
west  would  buy  120  acres  of  land  in  the  new  settlement. 
The  book  urged  the  unhealthy  conditions  in  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois, danger  from  Indians  in  case  of  war,  the  absence  of 
markets,  the  privations  and  extreme  hardships  from  which 
a  number  of  disappointed  emigrants  had  turned  back,  and 
presented  the  many  advantages  of  markets  and  location  so 
near  to  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore.-"  It  showed 
that  success  by  the  individual  emigrant  could  be  had  in  north- 
eastern Penn.sylvania  easier  and  with  less  privations  than  in 

••Emily  C.  Blitckman,  History  of  Suaquehanna  County,  Penn.,  453.  Stocker, 
Suaquehanna  County  Centennial  History,  602 

"C.  B.  Johnson,  Letters  from  the  British  Settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  1819, 
Plilla.  &  I^jnJon. 


114  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

the  west,  which  was  probably  true,  with  land  equally  produc- 
tive. But  it  was  a  settlement  in  the  wilderness  where  success 
demanded  a  life  of  sacrifice  and  hard  labor  which  the  settlers 
were  unwillinp  to  devote  and  from  which  escape  was  veiy 
easy. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  an  educated  man  who  seemed  honest  in 
his  account,  which  is  a  valuable  record  and  description 
of  details  of  American  backwoods  life  of  that  time,  both  east 
and  west  of  the  mountains. 

F>irkbeck*s  Notes  and  Letters  give  an  optimistic,  yet  sub- 
stantially truthful  account  of  the  prospects  of  an  English 
settler  in  the  far  west. 

Dr.  Johnson's  Letters  present  all  of  the  facts  against 
them  by  a  competitor.  After  three  or  four  years  he  moved 
to  Binghamton,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1845  at  the  age 
of  65.  Of  him,  the  historian  of  the  Pennsylvania  settle- 
ment say.s: 

More  thiin  one  KiiRlish  emigrant  beiiioaneil  tbe  day  he  read  Johtunon's 
Lcttertt,  and  hea|)«l  upon  the  author  accusations  born  of  »lisai>iiointment. 
"Too  rose  coh>re<l.'"  his  (lescri|)tions  may  have  been:  but  so.  also,  were  the 
notions  (if  town-l)r<il  |>eople  resi)e<'tin>r  their  own  caiiacity  to  endure  the 
inevitalile  ills  attendant  upon  pioneer  life.32 

The  Pennsylvania  settlement  had  underlying  it  the  ele- 
ment of  speculation  by  the  original  proprietor  of  the  land, 
not  dissimilar  to  that  of  Birkbeck's  and  Flower's  schemes, 
and  the  land  was  hilly  and  it  seems  not  very  productive. 
Hornbrook,  Ingle,  Maidlow  and  other  leaders  of  the  Indiana 
colony  were  men  of  strong  character  who  preferred  entire 
independence  of  promoters.  They  issued  no  prospectus,  pub- 
lished no  advertisements.  All  settlers  and  land  owners 
bought  from  the  government  and  were  on  perfect  equality. 
They  realized  the  necessities  of  their  position  and  devoted 
their  lives  to  their  work. 

The  reflected  light  from  the  literature  and  history  of  the 
Pennsylvania.  Indiana  and  Illinois  settlement  shows  in  a 
measure  the  obstacles  which  deterred  the  more  timid  and  less 
resolute.    These  obstacles  were  far  greater  in  the  wilderness 

"Blackmail,  History  of  Suaquehanna  Countv.  Penn.,  645. 


lyU'hart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         115 

of  the  far  west  than  those  east  of  the  mountiiins  to  which  the 
Pennsylvania  colony  succumbed. 

Of  the  Enjrlish  settlement  in  Indiana  and  its  relative  im- 
portance in  1820,  John  Woods,  who  lived  two  years  in  the 
Illinois  prairie  settlement,  and  was  not  biased  against  the 
Indiana  colony,  says:-'-' 

TUi'iv  in  an  Kiii:llsli  s«^ttU>iiu>nt  in  IihUmiiii  iil)out  ten  miles  l)aek  of 
Evjinsvllle,  I  liave  lie.inl,  better  \vatero<l,  and  nearer  markets  than  we; 
but  it  is  in  the  uikkIs  and  tlie  land  is  inferior  to  ours.  Tliis  is  tlie  arcnunt 
I  have  rwelve<i  of  it.  hut  I  kimw  iiotliinj;  oidy  from  tlie  rei)f)rt  of  those 
who  have  iio  Interest  in  either  settlement. 

I  have  no  |>ersonal  knowledjre  of  Mr.  Hornhrook  or  Mr.  Maldlow.  the 
beads  of  tliat  settlement  ;  and  sliould  any  irtsou  see  my  account  of  thi.s 
part  of  the  country  and  come  to  America.  I  would  advi.se  him  to  see  both 
settlements  before  he  ti.xed  in  either. 

Faux's  travels  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  a  round  trip  of 
over  1.600  miles,  were  made  to  visit  an  old  friend,  John  Ingle, 
of  Saundersville,  upon  a  compact  made  between  him  and 
John  Ingle,  of  Somersham,  who  agreed  to  look  after  Faux's 
affairs  during  his  absence,  if  the  latter  would  visit  his  son  in 
America.  Faux  spent  five  weeks  in  John  Ingle's  cabin,  the 
picture  of  which  is  the  frontispiece  of  his  book. 

With  John  Ingle,  he  visited  New  Harmony  and  Albion 
and  Wanboro  and  was  by  Ingle  introduced  to  George  Flower 
and  Birkbeck.  Faux  talked  with  both  these  men,  as  well  as 
the  third  party  connected  with  their  (juarrel.  and  his  ap- 
parently confidential  conversations  with  all  of  them  are  pub- 
lished by  him,  though  of  no  public  interest. 

Faux's  descriptions  are  without  any  literary  merit,  and 
so  described  in  the  English  leviews  of  the  time,  and  are  only 
valuable  as  a  record  of  facts  which  he  saw,  as  he  was  doubt- 
less honest.  His  sensibilities  were  so  shocked  by  the  sim- 
plicity, .sacrifices  and  hardships  of  a  life  in  the  wilderness, 
of  men  and  women  raised  in  the  old  country,  with  its  con- 
veniences and  comforts,  that  he  was  unable  to  describe  them 
in  anything  but  terms  of  impatience  and  coarse  abuse. 

It  should  be  said  that  when  he  visited  the  settlement  in 

•  Woo.lw,    KngUah   I'rairie,  Z'o\  ,    Tliwalti-8.   Early    Weatern    Travcla,   X,    3J1. 


116  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

November,  1S19,  it  was  in  its  infancy,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
agonies  of  birth,  and  things  were  at  their  worst.  In  a  short 
time  many  of  the  conditions  I>aux  describes  improved  and 
most  of  his  dire  predictions  were  never  venfied.  His  narra- 
tion deals  with  events  of  trilling  importance  in  the  daily  life 
of  the  people  without  sense  of  propriety  or  proportions  of 
most  of  them.  The  privacy  of  the  lives  of  the  people  was  no 
shield  from  his  attacks.  The  Saundersville  settlement,  with 
its  people  and  its  surroundings,  occupies  a  greater  portion  of 
the  diar>'  of  which  his  volume  is  composed  than  any  other 
single  subject  in  the  book.  It  is  particularly  valuable,  how- 
ever, as  it  is  the  only  published  record  of  the  early  time, 
other  than  Woods'  reference  above  set  ont,  in  which  any 
information  whatever  is  given  of  the  settlement  in  Indiana. 
George  Flower,  who  wrote  his  book  forty  years  later, 
mentions  Honibrook,  Ingle  and  Maidlow.  He  knew  them 
all  well,  and  knew  that  they  all  had  intended  to  join  his  set- 
tlement, that  Ingle  came  over  in  his  ship  with  him,  and  that 
Honibrook  was  the  father  of  the  Indiana  settlement,  so 
called  by  Woods  and  Faux,  and  he  had  ground  to  believe  that 
Hornbrook  did  not  like  him.  He  goes  out  of  his  way,  and  of 
the  facts,  to  avoid  mentioning  the  Indiana  colony,  nowhere 
mentioned  in  his  book,  when  in  speaking  only  once  of  Horn- 
brook,  he  says: 3* 

It  wns  In  ISIS  or  1S10  that  Mr.  Hornlmink  of  Devizes.  Devonshire, 
calletl  on  me.  as  he  eanie  to  see  the  settlement ;  but  having  made  previous 
decision  to  remain  at  IMpeon  Creek,  Imliana.  where  EvansviUe  now  stands. 

For  the  latter  statement  no  foundation  existed.  Horn- 
brook  located  at  once  where  he  remained,  as  already  stated. 

The  British  view  of  the  importance  of  the  emigration 
movement  so  vividly  described  in  Birkbeck's  Notes  is  thus 
given  in  the  Edinburgh  Rcvicic:^-' 

The  si»o<tn<'le  jiresontwl  hy  America  dnrinfr  tlie  lust  tiiirty  or  forty 
years — ever  since  her  emnncipation  l)epan  to  pro<luce  its  full  effect,  and 
since  she  fairly  entered  the  lists  as  an  indei>endent  nation  with  a  com- 
pletely popular  povemment.  has  been,  beyond  everything  formerly  known 

»«  Hxatorv  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County,  162. 
"Bdlnburgh  Relieve,  June,  1818,  XXX  121. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         117 

In  the  lilKtory  of  maukiud.  luiiKisiut:  and  lustriu-tiviv  In  order  to  couteiu- 
plate  Its  woiulen*  wltb  coiuplett'  advantuKe.  an  obnerviT  ought  to  Lave 
vlsltetl  the  New  World  twice  lu  the  course  of  a  few  yearn.  A  sIhkIo  view 
Is  liisullU-leiit  to  exhibit  this  proKress  lu  the  States  already  settleil ;  for 
there,  ijuk-kly  as  the  chauges  are  k«)Iiik  on,  the  prt»c-es«  of  creatWui  Is  uot 
actually  seen  at  oiR*e,  or  dlsclosetl,  as  It  were,  to  the  eye;  some  Interval 
of  time  must  l>e  allowed,  and  the  eomiMirlson  then  shows  the  extent  of  the 
wonderful  ehange.  Hut  the  ('Xtraordlnary  state  of  things  lu  the  western 
part  of  the  I'lilon.  <levelo|H.nl  by  Mr.  Hlrkbei-k,  shows  us  the  process  both 
of  colonization  and  increase  at  one  glance.  We  see  exjwsed  to  the  naked 
ej*e,  the  whole  mystery  of  the  generation  as  well  as  the  growth  of  nations; 
w«  at  once  behold  In  what  manner  the  settled  parts  of  America  are  Increas- 
ing with  unparalleltHl  rajiidity;  and  how  new  and  extensive  communities 
are  daily  create*!  in  the  plains  and  the  forests  of  the  west,  by  the  super- 
fluous iM)pulation  of  the  eastern  settlements.  Those  settlements  assume 
a  novel  and  a  striking  asitei-t. 

Predicting  the  future  of  the  settlements  in  Illinois  and 
Indiana,  the  Review  adds: 

A  frugal  and  Industrious  people  here  established  is  morally  certain  of 
rising  to  the  rank  of  a  great  state  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations. 

In  closing  the  article,  the  Review  addsi^s 

It  Is  lmi)ossible  to  close  this  Interesting  volume,  without  casting  our 
eyes  ui>on  the  man-elous  empire  of  which  Mr.  Blrkbeck  paints  the  growth 
in  colours  far  more  .striking  than  any  heretofore  used  In  portraying  It. 
Where  is  this  prodigious  increase  of  numbers,  this  vast  extension  of  do- 
minion to  end?  What  bounds  has  nature  .set  to  the  progress  of  this  mighty 
nation?  Let  our  jealou.sy  burn  as  it  may,  let  our  intolerance  of  America 
be  as  unreasonably  violent  as  we  please;  still  It  Is  plain,  that  she  Is  a 
power  In  si)lte  of  us,  rapidly  rising  to  supremacy;  or.  at  least,  that  each 
year  so  mightily  augments  her  strength,  as  to  overtake,  by  a  most  sensible 
distance,  even  the  most  formidable  of  her  comiK?tltors. 

George  Flower,  who  had  l>een  the  guest  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson the  previous  winter,  wrote  the  latter,  asking  his  aid 
in  the  effort  to  get  an  act  of  congress  for  the  purchase  of 
40.000  acres  in  one  body.  Mr.  Jefferson  answered  the  letter, 
promising  his  aid.-'" 

Not  on  the  selfish  principle  of  Increasing  our  population  at  the  exinjnse 
of  other  nations,  for  the  additions  are  but  as  a  drop  In  a  bucket  to  those 

"Edinburgh  Review,  XXX.   137. 

•'George  l•^owe^.  Engliah  Settlement  in  Edwards  Countu,  178. 


118  Indiana  Ma(jazine  of  Histoid 

by  n.ittiral  iirocroatlon.  but  to  oonso<Tnte  ii  sjinctnarj-  for  those  whom  the 
inisnilf  of  Kuropo  iiuiy  compel  to  s(H'k  happiuoss  In  other  climes,  this  refuge, 
once  known,  will  iinxhue  reaction,  even  to  those  there,  by  warninjj  their 
task-masters  that  when  tlic  evils  of  Kp>-ptian  ojipression  become  heavier 
than  those  of  abamlonment  of  country,  another  Cannan  Is  oi)oned.  where 
their  snbjei'ts  will  be  r(H'eiv«^1  as  brothers  jind  se<urr*l  ft"um  like  op])re»- 
NJnn  l>y  a  iwirticipatlon  in  the  riirhts  of  self-frovernment. 

After  eloquently  setting  forth  the  advantages  and  bless- 
ings of  good  government,  a  motive,  he  continues  in  his  letter: 

You  have  set  your  country  a  Kood  exam])le,  by  showing  them  a  prac- 
ticable mode  (^f  rediKiuK  their  rulers  to  the  necessity  of  beoominp  more 
wise,  more  moderate,  and  more  honest,  .'ind  I  sincerely  pray  that  the  exam- 
ple may  work  for  the  beuetit  of  those  who  cannot  follow  It,  us  it  will  for 
your  own. 

Organization  of  Local  Government 

The  organization  of  county  and  township  government  in 
Vanderburgh  county  began  in  1818,  contemporaneously  with 
the  coming  of  the  British  emigrants.  These  were  not  treated 
as  foreigners  and  regarded  themselves  a  part  of  the  body  of 
the  county,  owners  of  the  soil  and  ready  to  take  an  active 
part  in  all  civic  duties.  While  members  of  the  settlement  in 
the  beginning  were  located  very  closely  together,  with  Saun- 
dersville  as  the  village  center,  it  was  never  a  separate  com- 
muntiy,  so  far  as  sympathies  with  American  ideals  and  sur- 
roundings were  concerned. 

Treating  the  members  of  the  British  settlement  as  a 
separate  source  of  influence,  with  ideals  and  culture  trans- 
planted from  the  old  world  into  the  wilderness  of  the  new, 
there  may  be  said  to  have  been  at  the  beginning  two  other 
classes  of  people  in  Vanderburgh  county,  the  influence  of 
which  may  be  for  the  time  separately  traced.  These  were 
best  represented  by  the  southern  backwoodsmen  and  their 
leaders,  men  of  strong  personality,  and  a  few  men  fiom  New 
England,  New  York  and  other  Atlantic  coast  States. 

At  this  period  in  the  union  of  all  these  elements,  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  and  composite  social  and  political  order 
in  this  locality,  less  homogeneous  in  some  respects  than  its 
surroundings,  including  the  population  south  of  the  river, 
but  more  cosmopolitan  as  the  result  of  such  a  union. 


Ifjhhai't:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         119 

Warrick  county  had  been  the  parent  county,  which  from 
1814  to  1818  had  furnished  local  government  in  a  most 
primitive  manner,  over  large  territory-,  mostly  a  wilderness. 
Previous  to  that  time,  Vincennes,  the  territorial  county  seat 
of  Knox  county,  had  been  the  nearest  seat  of  justice,  too  far 
distant  to  be  of  much  service  to  the  few  scattered  settler;. 
By  an  unwritten  law,  the  right  of  self-defense  and  the  doc- 
trine of  immediate  personal  responsibility  for  a  violation  of 
individual  rights,  among  the  natives,  maintained  order,  sutli- 
cient  for  the  time. 

Vincennes  was  the  capital  of  the  territory  and  the  mother 
city  of  the  northwest  during  this  period.  Princeton  was  in- 
corporated in  1814  and  was  a  thriving  village  described  by 
Faux  in  1819-'^  as  containing  105  houses,  19  streets,  one 
prison  and  one  meeting  house.  Henderson,  Kentucky,  then 
known  as  Red  Banks,  was  near  the  western  boundary  of  im- 
migration in  Kentucky  in  1803  and  earlier,  and  was  early  an 
organized  community  of  commercial  influence,  with  a  church 
and  school,  including  an  excellent  Female  Seminary.  In  this 
town  the  first  Evansville  merchants  bought  much  of  their 
stocks.  The  route  of  travel  across  the  river  from  Kentucky 
into  Indiana  through  Vanderburgh  county,  was  over  the 
ferry  at  the  mouth  of  Green  river,  the  ferry  opposite 
Evansville,  and  the  ferry  at  Red  Banks,  between  which  point 
and  Vincennes  there  was  considerable  travel.  In  low  water 
the  Indian  trail  crossed  the  Ohio  river  at  a  ford  already 
described. 

In  the  first  decade  of  the  last  centuiy,  the  immigrants 
from  Kentucky,  who  were  practical  woodsmen  and  familiar 
with  the  nature  of  the  soil,  passed  by  the  high  land  of  central 
and  north  Vanderburgh  county,  which  was  not  so  produc- 
tive as  the  lands  in  Gib.son  and  Posey  counties.  A  majority 
of  these  immigrants  from  Kentucky  settled  in  what  later  be- 
came Gibson  county  on  the  north,  in  preference  to  the  locality 
of  Vanderburgh  county. 

Before  the  English  came,  there  were  already  upon  the 
ground  several  leading  men  born  in  England,  who  had  omi- 

*»  ThvoiteB  Early  WtBtem  Travels,  XI,  224. 


120  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

grated  tx)  the  Atlantic  coast  States,  and  who  had  come  west- 
ward with  the  tide  of  emijrration  through  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky into  Indiana.  Samuel  Scott,  Everton  Kennerly, 
Richard  Carlisle,  the  Prichetts  and  some  of  the  Fairchilds 
though  of  English  birth,  were  as  distinctly  American  as  were 
any  of  the  natives  among  whom  they  intermingled. 

These  men  immediately  identified  themselves  with  mem- 
bers of  the  English  settlement,  and  on  the  other  hand,  the 
latter  became  identified  with  all  matters  of  public  interest 
equally  with  the  natives.  The  act  of  the  legislature  creating 
Vanderburgh  county  named  the  house  of  Samuel  Scott — the 
center  of  the  settlement  to  be — as  the  place  of  meeting  of  the 
commissioners  named  in  the  act,  to  select  the  county  seat, 
and  Evansville  was  thus  chosen. 

Richard  Carlisle  had  been  a  justice  of  peace  in  Warrick, 
before  Vanderburgh  county  was  formed.  He  was  a  black- 
smith, and  the  only  man,  shown  by  the  records,  who  held  his 
own  in  personal  encounter  with  the  turbulent  Hugh  McGary, 
the  younger. 

Everton  Kennedy,  like  Carlisle,  of  English  birth,  a 
brother-in-law  of  Samuel  Scott,  was  a  natudal  leader  and  one 
of  the  most  active  and  useful  public  men  in  the  township, 
town  and  county  for  many  years. 

Elisha  Harrison,  a  second  cousin  of  William  Henry  Har- 
rison, foiTner  territorial  governor  of  Indiana,  and  later  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  lived,  when  the  county  was 
formed,  on  a  farm  west  of  Samuel  Scott,  and  represented 
Warrick  county  in  the  legislature  when  Vanderburgh  was 
created,  when  he  moved  to  Evansville.  He  was  a  native,  of 
Virginia  Revolutionar\^  stock,  and  the  first  state  senator 
elected  from  Vanderburgh  county.  He  was  an  able  man.  -^^ 
many  excellent  traits,  public  spirited,  well  educated  and  until 
his  death  in  1825  or  1826,  was  in  the  front  of  every  public 
movement,  and  freely  invested  his  fortune  in  public  enter- 
prises, more  perhaps  than  any  man  of  his  time.  He  estab- 
lished and  maintained  the  Evansville  Weekly  Gazette  at  a 
loss  for  about  four  and  one-half  years. ^"     With  a  mechanic 

■The  Evajisvllle  Gazette  had  a  contract  for  publishing  the  laws  of  conffreae. 
and  the  state  department  saved  about  three  and  one-half  years  Issue  of  the  paper. 


Iglehai-t:     Cominy  of  the  Englitfh  to  Indiana         121 

as  a  partner,  he  built  the  first  courthouse  in  the  county.  The 
owner  of  the  ferry  on  the  Ohio  at  Evansville  was  indicted  for 
neglect  of  this  pubUc  duty.  Harrison  bought  his  equipment, 
erected  or  purchased  a  tavern  on  a  Water  street  lot,  took  out 
a  license  for  the  ferry  in  his  own  name  and  maintained  it 
opposite  "Chutes"  Tavern.  When  salt  works  were  the  most 
desirable  addition  to  the  town  then  hoped  for,  Harrison,  at 
much  expense,  with  his  partner  in  general  merchandise, 
James  W.  Jones,  sank  a  well  on  Pigeon  creek  and  found  salt 
water  at  463  feet,  which  event  was  announced  with  great  ex- 
pectations, and  furnished  the  occasion  for  a  short  but  valu- 
able sketch  of  Evansville  in  1824.^"  He  was  brigadier  gen- 
eral in  the  militia.^' 

RatlifF  Boone,  born  in  Georgia,  a  grandson  of  Israel 
Boone,  brother  of  Daniel  Boone,  lived  in  Boonville,  Warrick 
county,  was  lieutenant  governor  and  governor  of  Indiana, 
and  for  many  years  congressman  of  this  district. 

Robert  M.  Evans,  a  man  of  much  prominence,  and  James 
W.  Jones,  both  of  Princeton,  came  to  Evansville  about  1819. 
Evans  came  to  Knox  county  in  1805.  When  Gibson  county 
was  organized  in  1814  he  became  and  remained  county  clerk 
for  over  four  years.  Col.  William  M.  Cockrum,  whose  father 
lived  a  few  miles  east  of  Evans,  says  he  was  during  that  time 
the  leading  man  in  the  county  and  managed  its  business 
affairs. ^- 

David  Hart,  son  of  one  of  the  Hart  brothers,  of  Richard 
Henderson  &  Co.,  in  pioneer  Kentucky,  was  first  circuit  judge 
of  Vanderburgh  county,  and  lived  in  Princeton. 

James  R.  E.  Goodlett,  born  in  Virginia,  was  for  more 
than  ten  years  his  successor  as  circuit  judge,  and  lived  in 
Vanderburgh  county. 

Hugh  McGary,  the  elder,  with  his  family  came  out  of 
North  Carolina  with   Daniel  Boone  in   1775,  was  an  Indian 

now  In  thf  ConKrenHl<in:iI  I.i>)rary,  tlie  only  copy  in  txistence.  It  has  escaped  Uie 
historian. 

•'  Kvanifvine  Cdzitti,  Sept.  9,   1824. 

"/d..  May  7.  1823. 

"  Ex-Governor  Jowph  Imhv  Rive«  to  Evans  and  RatlifT  Boone  a  place  of 
prominence  amons  the  men  of  the  State.  History  of  Vanderburgh  Countj/  (B. 
ft  F.).  102. 


122  Indiana  Maf/azinc  of  HLstonj 

fighter  of  undisputed  bravery,  and  a  figure  of  the  heroic  age 
in  the  west.  In  his  old  age,  he  settled  in  Knox  county  about 
1804  and  died  there  in  1806  near  where  Princeton  was  later 
located.  The  McGarys  lived  in  that  locality  when  in  1812 
Hugh  McGray,  the  younger,  entered  fractional  section  30, 
upon  which  Evansville  was  later  located.  As  such  original 
proprietor  he  became  a  local  celebrity  in  Evansville,  concern- 
ing whom  a  number  of  historical  facts  exist  in  the  records, 
some  of  which  have  been  incorrectly  recorded  in  local  history. 

James  W.  Jones  was  from  Kentucky  and  was  clerk  of 
Vanderburgh  county  for  many  years  and  was  the  head  of  a 
family  of  influence.  His  son,  James  Gerard  Jones,  was  first 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Evansville  and  in  1859  was  attorney 
general  of  Indiana.  He  was  probably  related  to  John  G. 
Jones,  the  first  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  the 
county  of  Kentucky,  before  it  became  a  state.  John  G.  Jones 
was  murdered  by  Indians  December  25.  1776.  John  G.  Jones 
was  succeeded  as  such  chairman  by  Hugh  McGary,  the  elder, 
upon  whom  the  women  and  children  in  Kentucky  much  de- 
ponded  for  safety  in  the  Indian  wars.  Jones.  Evans  and 
McGary  platted  Evansville  as  it  was  permanently  located 
in  1817. 

Joseph  Lane,'-  born  in  Kentucky,  became  a  citizen  of 
\'anderburgh  county  when  his  farm  on  two  sides  was  made 
the  lino  between  that  county  and  Warrick.  Boone  legislated 
Lane  out  of  his  county,  as  the  latter  was  a  man  of  great  pop- 
ularity. This  fact  accounts  for  the  irregular  eastern  line  of 
Vanderburgh  county.^'  He  defeated  Evans  in  the  race  for 
the  legislature  in  Vanderburgh  county,  of  which  Evans  gives 
an  amusing  explanation  in  the  Evansville  Gazette.  Lane  be- 
came governor  of  and  United  States  senator  from  Oregon 
and  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  before  the  people  of  the 
Ignited  States  on  the  Breckenridge  and  Lane  Presidential 
ticket  in  1860. 

General  Washington  Johnston,  the  earliest  member  of  the 
Vincennes  bar,  came  there  from  Virginia  in  1792.     He  was 

♦»  An  adequate  sketch  of  Gernral  Joseph  Lane  is  found  In  Woolen's  Sketchet 
of  F.arl]f  Indiana  Lenders. 

♦♦  Warrick  and  Its  Prominent  People,  Fortune.  73.  note. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         123 

before  the  public  in  many  forms  during  his  life.^'  He  was 
a  revolutionary  soldier.^"  In  18iy  when  the  panic  affected 
the  country  so  that  the  jcniin  rotted  in  the  fields  and  \'in- 
cennes   lost  one-half  of  its   population^",   Johnston   came  to 

In  18^4  half  tlu*  houma  In  Kvunsvlllc  weru  viiouit.  mild  to  have  been  the 
n-Bult  uf  slokmtui  In  the  locality,  but  It  In  {iruhablu  the  panic  8till  exlatlng  had 
much  to  do  with  It.     AuioblDunipliv  i)f  J(i.>*ph  Taiklniitun.  ay. 

Evansville,  where  he  lived  not  over  a  year,  but  during  1819, 
the  record  shows  that  he  was  deputy  county  clerk.  He  specu- 
lated in  land  in  all  the  neighboring  counties,  as  their  deed 
records  show,  but  he  returned  to  Vincennes. 

George  \V.  Lindsay,  another  attorney  of  the  Vincennes 
bar,  came  at  the  same  time  with  Johnston,  was  prosecuting 
attorney  of  Vanderburgh  county,  one  term  of  court  in  1819. 
He  became  the  first  probate  judge  in  Vanderburgh  county 
in  1829,  served  many  years,  and  died  here.  His  wife  and 
two  daughters  moved  to  Posey  county. 

Levi  Igleheart,  Sr.,  from  Tidewater,  Maryland,  settled  in 
Kentucky  in  1815.  where  his  sons,  Asa  and  Levi,  Jr.,  were 
born  and  in  1823  he  settled  in  Warrick  county,  Indiana,  on 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the  English  settlement,  where  his 
son  William  was  born;  near  this  point,  then  and  later,  a 
dozen  English  families  including  the  Lockyears,  settled. 
Two  of  his  sons  married  daughters  and  one  a  niece  of  John 
Ingle,  of  Saundersville,  all  granddaughters  of  John  Ingle,  of 
Somersham.  One  of  his  daughters  married  Mark  Wheeler, 
and  one  John  Erskine. 

These  men  were  all  from  Kentucky  or  came  from  Vir- 
ginia or  more  southerly  states  through  Kentucky.  They  w^ere 
chief  among  the  native  leaders  of  the  earliest  settlers  with 
whom  the  English  emigrants  mingled  upon  their  arrival  ( r 
soon  afterwards.  There  were  a  number  of  other  intelligen:, 
successful  and  influential  people  from  the  south  and  east,  as 
well  as  from  Great  Britain,  who  lived  in  and  near  Evansville 
during  this  period,  but  it  is  beyond  the  scope  of  th»s  aitidr 
to  write  a  history  of  early  Evansville,  or  even  to  furnish  a 

**  I»uiin.  History  of  Indiana.  3.15. 

«• /nd(«Fia  Mdffatine  of  Hintori/,  Juno,  19H,  p.  54. 

•' Eaan-y.  HIatori/  of  Indiana,  Vol.  1.  p.  280  and  note. 


124  Imliaufi  Magazine  of  HLstonj 

list  of  the  names  of  its  leading  citizens.  The  scattered  set- 
tlers in  the  counties  bordering  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio 
river  were  chielly  from  the  south  and  brought  with  ihem 
southern  ideals.  These  leaders  from  the  south  represented 
the  great  body  of  the  scattered  backwoodsmen  when  the  Eng- 
lish came,  who,  with  those  from  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land and  the  leaders  of  the  British  settlement, 

wrrc  nil  stern   iiicii  with   i;iii]iiri's  in  tlu'ir  lirains. 

The  definite  and  prompt  protection  of  individual  rights, 
under  the  enforcement  of  law,  had  been  uncertain  in  the 
backwoods  of  the  west.  Public  opinion  sometimes  justified 
methods  in  private  life,  which  in  the  older  communities  were 
regarded  as  lawless,  and  turbulent  spirits,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  liquor,  sometimes  defied  the  law^ 

Complaint  was  made  by  Faux,  Fearon  and  other  travel- 
ers, as  well  as  by  Cobbett  and  by  Dr.  Johnson  (both  of  whom 
were  biased  in  their  judgments),  in  the  war  of  pamphlets  be- 
tween the  British  colonies  east  and  west  of  the  Alleghenies, 
that  such  a  condition  existed  in  this  section  at  the  time  of 
which  we  write.  In  speaking  of  this  subject.  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  had  never  been  west  of  the  mountains,  wrote  :*^ 

I  liiid  fdrnu"*!  :in  erroneous  oitinion  of  a  wotMlsnian.  I  e.\i>ec'to<l  to  find 
riide  manners;  l)nt  the  jieople  here  liehave  with  preat  oivility  and  proprii^ty. 
I  have  not  heard  a  sinjile  instance  of  i)rofane  lanpnape.  or  inde<ent  ex- 
pression, in  thi.s  settlement.  An  ;iir  of  comfort  i)ervades  the  habitations 
of  the  humblest  kind  :  and  in  general,  the  demeanour  of  the  wife  shows 
her  to  h.ive  her  full  sh:ire  of  the  family  control.  These  pc^iple  iire  almost  all 
from  the  New  Knul.ind  St.ites;  t»y  which  name  is  desijinattHl  the  s<Htion 
of  country  north  and  enst  of  New  York,  which  has  always  been  remarked 
for  the  enterpri.se  and  good  moral  conduct  of  Its  citizens.  To  the  inhab- 
itants of  this  se<tion  of  the  rnit<><l  States,  who  sire  also  distlneiilsheil  by 
their  slirewdness,  the  term  Yankee  is  ajiplitMl;  and  not.  as  it  is  underst(HKl 
In  Knpl.'ind.  to  all  the  States.  A  Yankee,  therefore,  means  a  native  of  New 
Knpland.  The  civility  of  disfiosition  in  which  they  are  e<lucnte<l  at  home, 
is  taken  abroad  with  fhenr.  and  they  are  said  to  form  a  class  of  settlers 
far  sufH>rior  to  those  who  endprate  from  the  southern  States  to  the  western 
wilderness. 

Flower  intimates  that  Johnson  was  a  land  speculator  and 
the  history  of  the  Pennsylvania  settlement  adds  color  to  that 

"C.  B.  Johnson.  M    P.  Letters  from  the  Brittah  Settlement  in  Penn.,  111. 


lylthai-t:     Cuming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         125 

suspicion.  The  latter  had  not  lived  among  the  woodsmen 
and  allowance  should  be  made  for  a  strong  bias  against  the 
far  west. 

If  the  proper  allowance  be  made  for  the  lapse  of  time,  re- 
quired in  the  successive  waves  of  emigration  from  the  At- 
lantic coast  frontier  to  the  frontier  in  the  wilderness  along 
the  Ohio  and  the  Wabash  rivers  in  1818,  it  will  appear  that 
the  men  on  the  frontier  first  mentioned,  in  1750  and  later, 
had  much  the  same  "boisterous  tastes  and  dangerous  amuse- 
ments of  frontiersmen"  as  those  on  the  latter  "from  the 
south,"  as  Johnson  reports,  quoting  the  very  guarded  admis- 
sion of  a  distinguished  New  England  Historian.^" 

The  North  Atlantic  coast  States  had  their  share  of  bond 
servants  and  redemptioners  as  well  as  the  southern  States.'" 
As  late  as  1820,  the  rabid  anti-American  reviews  in  England 
were  quoting  Dr.  Johnson's  remark  "that  the  Americans  are 
a  race  of  convicts,  and  ought  to  be  thankful  for  anything  we 
allow  them  short  or  hanging.""*' 

The  effect  and  necessities  of  the  institution  of  slavery  had 
prevented  the  emigration  of  independent  foreign  labor  into 
the  south  to  any  considerable  extent.  The  southern  people 
were  a  homogeneous  people  and  so  remained.  The  English 
people  were  hostile  to  slavery.  Those  emigrants  who  pre- 
ferred slave  labor  passed  on  to  Missouri,  in  large  numbers. 
The  institution  of  slavery  and  its  necessities  in  molding  the 
law,  public  opinion,  and  customs  of  the  people,  were  objec- 
tionable to  anti-slavery  Englishmen  and  to  anti-slavery  peo- 
ple in  America. 

In  fact,  the  original  location  for  the  English  settlement, 
later  made  in  the  Illinois  prairie,  by  Birkl^eck  and  Flower, 
of  which  the  Indiana  settlement  was  a  part  would  probably 
have  been  in  Virginia,  but  for  the  existence  of  slavery  in 
that  State.  George  Flower  spent  his  first  winter  with 
Thomas  Jefferson  (as  a  distinguished  guest)   at  his  home  in 

••Albert  Bushnell  Hart.  Formution  of  the  rnion,  18. 

*•  John  R.  CommonB.  Induatrtul  Utatory  of  the  U.  8.,  42.  Commons  estimates 
that  prohiibly  on<-half  of  all  the  liimiltrrants  landcil  In  th<*  colonial  p<'rloil  as 
lnd<-ntun-<l  wrvantn.  The  Plymouth  settli-rs  broiijcht  with  them  "borul  servants." 
Moorf's  Industrial  History  of  the  American  People,  109 

*i  Electic  Re\-ifu\  .May.  1820.  401. 


126  huliayic  Magazine  of  History 

Virginia,   and    seriously   considered   establishinj^   his   colony 
there.     Birkbeck  vetoed  the  plan  on  account  of  slaver>'.''- 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  river,  new  conditions  ex- 
isted. A  fierce  struggle  for  the  control  of  Indiana  by  slave 
owners,  from  the  time  of  estal)lis]iment  of  the  territory  until 
the  admission  of  the  State  in  1816,  for  a  while  practically 
maintained  slaveiy  in  form  in  the  territory'-' ;  but  it  was  for- 
bidden on  the  admission  of  the  State  to  the  Union. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  among  the  intellectual  and  lead- 
ing men  in  this  community  of  that  time,  who  came  from 
Kentucky,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  the  English  and 
New  England,  idea  of  maintenance  of  public  order  by  law, 
without  the  doctrine  of  personal  responsibility  for  a  personal 
alfront.  did  not  have  always  the  fullest  support. 

Faux  himself,  indulging  in  one  of  his  inconsistent  moods, 
gave  a  very  plausible  reason  why  fear  of  instant  punishment 
for  an  insult  was  often  a  preventive  more  effective  than  the 
fear  of  possible  punishment  by  law  in  the  distant  -future. 
He  also  gave  an  excuse  for  carrying  side-arms  in  Kentucky, 
as  necessary  to  protection  of  law-abiding  citizens  from  the 
gouging  and  nose-biting  rowdies,  when  in  liquor.  Judge 
David  Hart  resigned  as  judge  soon  after  his  election  or  ap- 
pointment, on  account  of  a  challenge  he  had  given.' '  Judge 
J.  R.  E.  Goodlett.  of  the  circuit  court,  was  indicted  by  the 
grand  jur>'  for  provoke  and  assault  in  drawing  a  sword  cane. 
His  two  associate  judges,  both  laymen,  quashed  the  indict- 
ment on  the  ground,  as  the  record  shows,  that  the  law  on 
which  the  indictment  was  based  was  unnmstitntional. 
While  on  the  bench  he  had  a  newspaper  controversy  with 
Robert  M.  Evans,  started  by  the  latter,  resulting  in  recrimi- 
nations, and  Colonel  Cockrum  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  a  duel  to  the  death  i)etween  them  was  avoided  only  by 
the  severest  measures  of  mutual  friends.  After  Goodlett 
retired  from  the  bench,  he  assaulted  Judge  Samuel  Hall,  his 
successor,  while  presiding  in  court  on  the  bench  and  was  im- 

"Thwaitf,  Fnrly  Wrstrru  Trnxris.  XI.   240. 

*•  Dunn,    History  of  Indiana,  Chaptfrs  VI   and   IX. 

**Thwalte.  Earlv  Weatern  Travels,  XI.  216. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         127 

prisoned  for  contenij)!.  The  members  of  the  bar  of  the  cir- 
cuit published  u  statement  condemning  him.'"' 

Robert  M.  Evans,  Klisha  Harrison,  Hugh  McGary  and 
all  of  his  brothers,  State  Senator,  laU^-r  Governor  liatlifF 
Boone,  and  others  were  indicted  and  tried  for  misdemeanors, 
generally  assault  and  battery.  Some  well-known  persons 
were  indicted  for  more  serious  offenses.  I)oul)tless  it  was 
true  that  resort  was  had  to  the  grand  jury  in  a  number  of 
cases  then,  which  to  us  now  seem  trivial.  Probal)ly  the  ex- 
cuses for  sucii  very  strict  and  frequent  use  of  the  law  existed 
in  the  fact  that  there  was  in  the  beginning  a  vicious,  lawless 
and  dangerous  element  in  the  lower  classes,  which  without 
the  fear  of  the  law,  stopped  at  nothing.  It  did  not  hesitate 
to  defy  the  law  at  the  beginning,  and  until  the  supremacy  of 
the  law  was  fully  vindicated,  which  ,  as  will  appear,  was  soon 
done.  It  needs  no  argument  to  make  clear  that  even  the  law- 
less element  of  that  period,  as  they  appear  to  us  now,  became 
such  in  part  at  least,  as  the  result  of  the  great  sarcifice  made 
by  them  and  their  ancestors  in  performing  their  work,  of 
conquering  and  holding  the  land  west  of  the  mountains  from 
the  Indians.  For  several  generations  they  had  been  sentinels 
on  the  border  of  civilization.  But  for  this  work  also,  in  occu- 
pying the  land  conquered  by  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  treaty 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  would  have  left  the  territory  north  of  the 
Ohio  river  part  of  Canada,  as  England  then  regarded  it.'"' 

The  historian,  after  describing  the  rugged  frontiersmen 
and  backwoodsmen  of  the  "up  country,"  says: 

Had  the  settloment  of  Kentucky  (h'pt'uiUil  on  the  achievement  of  Tide- 
water Virginians,  it  would  be  at  this  moment  a  lilnKdoui  of  rc^l  Indians  and 
a  pasture  for  wild  buCFaloes.'-' 

But  the  issue  was  now  to  be  settled  in  the  new  State  of 
Indiana,  between  law  and  order  on  the  one  hand  and  lawless- 
ness on  the  other.  John  Law,  a  young  lawyer  of  Vincennes, 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  had  just  begun  the  practice  of  law  in 

**  History  of  Potey  County   (ChlwUfO.    1SS6),   432.  * 

•«0«(jrK.'  KllUitt  Howard,  I'rrHminarita  of  the  Revolution,  241.  C.  H.  Van 
Tyne.  The  Av\cric<in  Utvulution,  2'\-2Hi. 

•'Cotterlll,  History  of  Pioneer  Kentucky.  26. 


128  hidiana  Magazine  of  Histoi^y 

Vincennes,  when  he  was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  for 
Vanderburgh  county.  He  served  as  the  first  prosecutor,  be- 
ginning with  the  March  term,  1818,  and  continued  for  more 
than  two  years,  wlien  he  resigned.  He  was  an  ellicient  prose- 
cutor, as  the  records  which  have  been  preserved  show,  but 
the  order  lx)ok  records  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  county  for 
1818  and  1819  are  not  preserved.'^  Some  years  later  he 
moved  to  Evansville. 

For  many  years  following  John  Law  as  prosecutor,  Amos 
Clark  was  the  prosecuting  attorney.  He  came  from  New 
York  State  when  first  Evansville  was  made  the  county  seat. 
He  was  an  educated  man  and  a  very  able  laNsyer.  He  was 
upon  one  side  or  the  other  of  practically  all  of  the  cases,  and 
sole  attorney  in  veiy  many  cases  which  did  not  require  ad- 
verse representation  of  counsel  in  court.  He  was  a  man  of 
high  moral  character,  had  high  ideals,  and  was  fearless  in 
the  administration  of  the  law.  He  prosecuted  some  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  community  and  their  relatives,  as  already 
stated.  Several  men  of  prominence  in  the  beginning  of 
Evansville  were  lawless  spirits  and  attempted  to  defy  the 
law  and  public  opinion.  With  these  men  Amos  Clark  meas- 
ured, and  within  four  or  five  years  the  records  show  he  had 
vindicated  the  law  and  thoroughly  broken  up  all  attempts  to 
defy  it.  The  community  owes  more  to  Amos  Clark  than  is 
known. 

Charles  I.  Battell,  a  ^Massachusetts  la\\yer,  was  for  a 
short  time  the  prosecuting  attoniey,  and  later,  in  the  30's, 
judge  of  the  circuit  court.  Alanson  Warner  was  from  Con- 
necticut, was  the  second  man  elected  to  the  office  of  sheriff 
and  was  a  tactful,  useful,  and  influential  man  in  the  com- 
munity for  a  generation.'' 

In  this  enforcement  of  the  law,  the  grand  juries  were  the 
source  of  power,  and  much  of  the  time  the  leading  and  domi- 
nating men  upon  the  grand  jury  were  from  the  British  set- 

"  Life  of  John  Laxc.  by  Charles  Denby.  Indiana  Historical  Soc.  Pub  V  I 
No.  7. 

••  His  shrewd  character  may  b*-  ee^n  In  an  advertisement  m  the  Gazette 
warning  tax  payers  to  pay,  but  offering  to  take  produce  at  his  tavern  from 
farmers  as  credit  on  their  taxes — a  real  accommodation  to  the  people  In  an 
almost  moneyless  age.     Evansville  Qazette.  May  31,  1824. 


Igkhart:     Coming  of  the  Englu^^h  to  Indiana         129 

tlement,  and  at  all  times  there  were  representatives  of  that 
settlement  upon  the  jrrand  jury.  In  like  manner  this  ele- 
ment was  prominent  in  the  trial  of  cases  on  the  rejfular  panel 
of  the  jury  of  the  court,  which  tried  men  indicted  for  of- 
fenses against  the  law.  In  matters  of  public  opinion  in  sup- 
port of  the  law,  there  were  a  numlx?r  of  men  in  the  settle- 
ment who  were  very  influential  and  of  great  value  in  sup- 
porting the  administration  of  justice.  Particularly  among 
these  were  Robert  Parrett  and  Joseph  Wheeler,  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  whose  careers  formed  a  verj-  important  part  of 
the  development  of  this  community  for  a  period  of  thirty 
years. 

The  Early  Hoosiers 

It  may  be  interesting  at  this  point  to  speak  of  the  body  of 
Hoosier  settlers,  with  whom  the  English  came  in  contact, 
who  were  not  so  prominent  as  the  leaders  mentioned.  For 
the  reason  already  given,  the  rich  country  around  where 
Princeton  is  now  located  had  been  settled  a  number  of  years 
earlier  than  Vanderburgh  county.  Upon  the  coming  of  the 
English.  Princeton,  then  two  years  old,  was  chosen  as  head- 
quarters by  Birkbeck,  Flower  and  Fordham,  where  they 
lived  before  the  settlement  in  the  prairie  in  Illinois  was  pre- 
pared for  them.  All  of  these  persons  frequently  mention 
Princeton  and  its  people. 

John  Ingle,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Indiana  colony,  lived 
one  season  in  Princeton  before  coming  to  the  Saundersville 
settlement.  So  the  travelers  of  the  time,  who  all  visited  New 
Harmony,  usually  came  or  went  by  Princeton  and  Vincennes, 
on  account  of  good  accommodations  for  travelers  in  roads 
and  taverns  and  Princeton  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
literature  of  the  time.  The  subsequent  historj'  of  Princeton 
and  Gibson  county  establishes  the  fact  that  the  body  of  the 
people  of  this  town  were  a  fair  type  of  the  people  in  the 
countr>',  in  no  substantial  degree  different,  and  were  of  the 
same  origin,  already  referred  to.  They  were  a  fair  type  of 
Hoosier  pioneers,  who  located  in  Indiana  from  1801  to  1818.«o 

••  Autobioffraphu  of  Rev.  Joseph  Tarkinfftoii.  A  ropresontativo  native  pioru'er, 
bom    In    1800   In   Ti-nnesaee,   of  poor   but   rcaptctablo   North   Carolina  parentage. 


VAO  In/fia)ia  Mayazine  of  History 

The  fairest  description  of  the  common  people  of  southern 
Indiana  in  1817  and  1818,  which  we  have  seen,  was  written 
by  Morris  Birkbeck,  who  sought  to  discover  all  that  was  good 
in  them,  but  who  stated  both  sides  in  his  descriptions.  In  the 
article  alieady  cited,  from  the  t^dinburgh  Review  of  June, 
1818,  so  fully  reviewing  Birkbeck's  Notes  on  Ameinca,  oc- 
curs the  following:''' 

The  nipldity  with  whidi  new  s<4tlpnu>iils  ,in>  foniuMl  in  this  luauner,  is 
illustriitCMl  ii.v  Mr.  I5irl<ln><k's  wiinlc  Itnnii;  luit  iinthiiiK  toiKls  more  cleiiriy 
to  siidw  if  tliiui  till'  st:it«'  tif  s4Mi(>ty  \vlii(  li  lie  foiiiid  at  rriiii'i'fon,  where  be 
tool;  up  iiis  alKide  while  iiis  iaml  was  jtreiiarinK  t<»  receive  him.  Tliis  is  a 
small  town,  plactnl  at  the  further  iiniit  of  In<li:ina.  and  founded  only  two 
years  before  our  author's  arrival.  It  containwl  fifty  houses;  was  the 
county  town  t)f  the  district:  and  contaiiUNl  (sjiys  Mr.  H)  as  many  "well 
lufornitHl.  >;ent(H*l  people,  in  pntiK>rtion  ti>  the  lunnhor  of  inhabitants,  as 
any  county  town  I  am  acquainted  with."  "I  thinit."  he  adds,  "there  are 
half  as  many  individuals  who  are  entitled  to  that  distinction  as  there  are 
hous«'s:  .ind  not  one  decidedly  vicious  character,  nor  one  that  Is  not  able 
and  wiUins  to  maintain  himself." 

His  notes  and  letters  contain  many  other  descriptions  of 
the  plain  people.  One  of  the  best  descriptions  of  the  country 
and  the  people  in  Indiana  and  Ohio  at  a  period  earlier  than 
that  described  by  Birkbeck  is  found  in  the  Travels  of  John 
Bradbun.'  in  1809-1811,  published  by  him  in  1819,  with  com- 
ments of  that  later  time,  reviewing  and  discriminating  un- 
friendly criticism  of  travelers  who  rapidly  passed  through 
the  county,  similar  to  those  already  mentioned.  In  regard 
to  the  manners  of  the  people  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  he  says, 
on  account  of  the  mixture  of  so  many  races  and  elements,  it 
would  be  absurd  to  expect  that  a  general  character  could 
then  be  formed,  or  that  it  would  be  for  many  years  to  come. 
After  referring  to  the  entire  absence  of  feeling  existing  l^e- 

came  with  his  p.arent8  In  181.5  to  P.itok.o.  In  Gibson  county,  Indiana,  to  live  in  a. 
frw  t'-rrltory.  I>fiter  the  family  settled  In  Monroo  county.  Ho  was  converted  in 
that  county,  sprnt  n  short  time  In  the  Indlan.a  Semlnarj-  under  H.ill,  princlrwl, 
was  persuaded  by  the  circuit  riders  to  enter  the  Methodist  ministry  and  later 
travelled  the  Vevay  circuit  In  which  EjfKloston  lived.  He  lived  over  seventy-five 
years  In  Indiana.  His  simple  account  of  pioneer  life  as  real  history  Is  worth 
more  than  the  novels  of  any  writer  of  fiction,  either  dialectic,  or  other^^'lse.  He 
was  the  father  of  the  lato  John  S  Tarklnjfton.  n.  prominent  citizen  of  Indianapolis, 
and  Kmndfather  of  Booth  Tarkinpton,  the  author. 
«  Edinburgh  Review,  XXX.  136. 


IgU'hart:     Cominy  of  the  English  to  Imiiana         131 

tween  classes,  as  in  Europe,  and  the  eciuality  in  natural 
rights  asserted  by  and  conceded  to  the  luimblest  citizen, 
Bradbury  says;"- 

TniVfUTs  from  Kuniju*.  in  passiiif:  throuKb  tin*  western  country  or 
indeeil  any  jmrt  ot  the  I'nitwl  Stiites,  ouKht  to  be  previously  iicquaiiited 
with  this  part  of  the  Anierlcun  ehanuter.  ami  more  particularly  if  tliey 
have  iM-t'ii  in  the  hahlt  of  freatlng  with  conteiupt.  or  irritating  with  aliuse, 
thos*'  whom  awidental  chvumstances  may  liave  plafe<l  In  a  situation  to 
administer  to  their  wants.  I^t  no  one  here  ln<lulne  himself  In  abuslUK  the 
waiter  or  hostler  ;it  tiic  inn:  tii;it  waiter  or  hostler  Is  probably  a  citi- 
zen, and  does  not,  nor  can  he,  comcive  that  :i  situation  in  which  he  dis- 
charges a  duty  to  society,  not  In  itself  dishonorable,  should  subject  him  to 
Insult,  but  this  ftH'linp,  so  far  as  I  have  exi)erlenced.  Is  entirely  defensive. 

1  have  travelled  uear  ten  thousiind  ndles  in  the  United  States  and 
never  received  the  least  incivility  or  .iflfront. 

There  is  nothing:  in  Birkbeck's  description  of  the  people 
of  Princeton  with  whom  he  and  Flower  and  Fordham,  with 
their  families,  mingled,  when  they  lived  there,  inconsistent 
with  the  descriptions  of  Edward  Eggleston's  novel.  The 
Hoosiir  School  Master,  nor  those  of  Baynard  Rush  Hall  in 
the  New  Purchase.    The  difference  is  in  the  view  point. 

Consistent  with  all  Birkbeck  says,  had  he  been  searching 
for  material  for  a  dialect  story  of  low  Hoosier  life,  he  would 
probably  have  found  it  in  Princeton. 

This  was  the  purpose  of  Eggleston,  who  found  what  he 
sought.'-'  As  a  correct  description  of  Hoosier  dialect  in  low 
life,  the  writer  can  testify  that  practically  all  of  his  dialect 
phrases  and  words  are  true  to  life  and  as  such  a  dialect  study 
the  work  is  a  classic.  But  while  the  author  never  made  any 
claim  that  the  book  contains  any  description  of  the  better 
class  of  Hoosiers  who  lived  in  southern  Indiana  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  State,  or  the  time  of  which  he  writes,  he  fails  to 
guard  that  cla.ss  against  the  opinion  so  generally  formed  out 
of  the  State  that  he  was  de.scribing  its  people. 

Dr.  F^ggleston  knew  the  interpretation  the  literary  world 
put  upon  the  Hoosier  School  Master,  as  a  portrayal  of  early 
Hoosier  life.     He  found   it   necessary  to   vindicate  his  own 

"T»iwalt<i!,   Eurhj    »'»-«f«rn    travrlx,  V.   'I'^'l. 

"  K(lwar<l  EKKlMiton,  llooaier  Schoulm<utfr,  An  to  dialect  In  Southern  In- 
diana, «K'<'  alHO  The  Uouaiera,  by  Meredith  Nicholson,  4  5. 


132  Imfiaua  Magazine  of  Hist&ry 

origin  from  the  suspicion  of  common  birth  and  low  associa- 
tions.'-^ In  1890  he  pubHshed  an  autobiographical  sketch,  a 
delightful  article,  the  chief  purpose  of  which  seems  to  be  to 
clear  his  memory  and  that  of  his  ancestors.®^ 

Among  the  many  of  such  unfriendly  interpretations  was 
one  by  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  in  reviewing  one  of  his  novels, 
which  he  says  in  his  introduction  to  his  biography,  sympa- 
thetically remarked  on  the  hardship  it  must  have  been  to  a 
"highly  organized  man"  to  be  born  in  southern  Indiana,  in 
an  age  of  hard-cider  campaigns.  In  resenting  this,  and 
praising  Vevay,  his  birthplace,  he  confines  his  defense  or 
eulog>'  to  the  beauty  of  its  location  and  of  the  natural  scenery 
surrounding  it — "one  of  the  loveliest  villages  on  the  Ohio 
river,"  but  there  is  nothing  in  defense  of  the  much  misunder- 
stood Hoosiers  who  lived  tliere.  The  following  sentence 
seems  significant  at  this  point:  ' 

I  changed  to  tlic  larger  Imliaua  tcwiis,  alonj;  the  Ohio  river,  where 
there  was  n  seuii-iirban  life  of  considerable  refinement. 

Only  speaking  of  his  own  family  he  says  he  was  "born  in  an 
intellectual  atmosphere."  While  he  vindicated  himself  and 
his  family,  he  left  it  to  time  and  to  others,  to  do  full  justice 
to  the  better  class  of  early  Hoosier  people.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  this  silence  on  the  author's  part,  upon  the  in- 
terpretation thus  widely  given  to  this  work,  the  most  popular 
of  all  his  books,  was  intentional  on  his  part  and  that  he  had  a 
motive  in  not  "meddling"  with  the  subject. 

Two  years  later  in  1892 — he  published  a  Library  Edition 
of  the  book  with  a  long  and  elaborate  preface,  which  he  calls 
a  biography  of  the  book,  dealing  with  the  history  and  char- 
acter of  the  work,  its  wonderful  success,  and  declares  it  to 
be  the  file  leader  of  American  dialect  novels.  His  discussion 
along  that  line  is  novel  and  very  interesting.     He  says: 

Tills  initial  novel,  the  favorite  of  the  larger  public,  has  beoouie  in- 
separably as.s<M  latc^l  with  my  name.  I  could  not  write  In  this  vein  now, 
if  I  would,  and  twenty-one  years  have  made  so  many  change.*  in  me  that 
I  dare  not  make  any  but  minor  rhanijes  in  this  icork.    The  author  of  the 

**  Introduction  to  Library  Edition  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  26. 
^Ihe  Forum,  Nov.,  1890,  p.  290. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         133 

Hoo*i«r  School tiuu-< I cr  is  distinctly  not  1  ;  1  am  but  hi.s  heir  and  exec-utor; 
and  8im-e  be  Ih  a  muiv  |>oputir  writer  than  I.  trhy  ahould  I  meddle  icith 
hit  ic<jrk. 

No  one  knows  »«o  well  iis  I  the  fiiultH  of  Inimntiirlty  iiml  Inexjierlence 
that  eharaeterlze  this  bi>ok.  luit  jHThapH  the  pubic  is  rinht  In  preferrluK  an 
author's  first  hook.  etc. 

Here  seems  to  be  an  explanation  why  the  author  had  de- 
termined to  keep  "hands  ofT"  the  book.  Without  discus.sing 
that  subject,  it  seems  clear  that  as  a  dialect  novel  of  low  life 
only,  it  is  irrelevant,  and  should  be  excluded  as  a  histor>'  of 
the  better  class  of  Hoosiers  of  that  time.  The  writer  has 
always  reg:arded  Dr.  Eggleston  as  one  of  the  leading  Amer- 
ican men  of  letters,  of  whom  the  Hoosiers  should  be  justly 
proud.  In  his  sketch  of  his  life  mentioned,  he  traces  his  an- 
cestry on  one  side  to  the  old  Virginia  aristocracy,  and  his 
short  characterization  of  that  people  as  they  appeared  to 
him,  is  a  masterpiece,  worthy  of  reproduction  here.  After 
stating  that  at  sixteen,  after  his  father's  death,  he  was  sent 
to  live  for  a  year  in  Virginia,  he  says: 

The  change  from  a  free  to  a  slave  state,  not  yet  entirely  out  of  Its 
pioneer  cruditie.s  to  a  society  so  fixed  and  conservative  as  that  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  was  as  Kreat  as  the  I'uite*!  States  aCForded  at  that  time. 

The  old  Virginia  country-gentleinan  life  had  a  fascination  not  i>o9- 
sesKed  by  any  other  society  in  the  new  world. 

With  its  unboundetl  hosiiitality  to  all  comers,  its  enormous  family 
pride,  its  sharp  line  of  distinction  between  the  well-born  and  the  plebeian, 
its  social  refinement,  its  narrow  ItM-al  prejudices,  its  chivalrous  and  ro- 
mantic sentiment  toward  ladies,  and  a  certain  laxity  of  morals  growing 
out  of  the  existence  of  a  slave  class,  it  could  not  fail  to  excite  a  profound 
Interest  in  the  mind  of  one  who  had  been  bred  in  a  simpler  and  less  digni- 
fied sot^'iety,  in  which  projirleties  were  less  regardtxl,  and  moralities  sttme- 
what  more  rigidly  enforced.  According  to  the  Virginia  method  of  reck- 
oning. I  was  cousin  to  a  large  fraction  of  the  i)oi)ulation  of  the  State;  and 
I  found  myself  a  member  of  a  powerful  clan,  at  once  domesticated,  and 
given  singular  oi)portuiiitles  for  knowing  a  life,  whi<'h.  in  the  new  world 
and  In  the  middle  years  of  the  ninetiHMith  century  was  a  curious 
anHchronism. 

The  Virginians  themselves  I  found  a  most  lovable  people,  and  admir- 
able In  their  generosity  and  high  s«'nse  of  honor  in  public  and  private 
ufTairs.  Kven  If  their  n^-klessness  of  danger  and  disregard  of  human  life, 
where  family  or  personal  jirlde  was  involve*!,  were  Iwirbarlsms.  they  were 
at   least  barbarisms  of  the  nobler  sort.     •     •     •     Though    I    saw  slavery 


134  ludiana  Mof/azhie  of  History 

In  its  iiiililost  forms  ainoiifr  my  roI:itl(>ns  1  <i>uhl  not  hv  blliul  to  the  mnnl- 
fi)Ul  liijii!<tkt>  iiiul  tln»  uniivdidaltU'  cnieUies  of  the  system. 

Between  the  lines  of  this  charming  description  may  be 
observed  a  reserve,  as  though  the  author  was  addressing  the 
American  cosmopolitan  woi-ld.  which  many  believe  centers 
east  of  the  Alleghenies  and  north  of  the  Potomac.  At  the 
same  time  his  description  seems  to  be  full  of  sympathy.  It  is 
the  conception  of  a  man  born  in  the  north,  of  good  southern 
stock,  with  northern  education,  rearing  and  ideals. 

Had  Eggleston  remained  west,  in  that  deep  sympathy 
with  western  life  found  in  the  character  sketches  of  Judge 
James  Hall,'''  of  the  same  class  of  people  described  in  Eg- 
gleston's  work  generally,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  his 
method  of  treatment  would  have  been  the  same.  Or,  if  so, 
whether  he  would  not  at  least  have  made  a  reasonable  effort 
to  anticipate  the  unfriendly  effect  which  his  work  was  des- 
tined to  produce  upon  the  reputation  of  the  early  Hoosier  pi- 
oneers, outside  of  the  State.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  he 
neglected  at  this  last  opportunity  to  say  a  word  on  the 
subject. 

Had  Baynard  Hall  sought  to  find  the  coarse  exhibitions 
of  uncultured  and  ignorant  people  in  Princeton,  such  as  he 
described  in  the  Neiv  Purchase,  no  doubt  he  could  have  found 
them.  Many  counterparts  of  his  caricatures  of  offensive 
habits  of  common  people  could  probably  then  and  later  have 
been  found  in  New  Jersey  had  he  hunted  for  them  there  as 
he  did  in  Indiana.  His  book  is  written  anonymously  and  in- 
dividuals are  attacked  under  assumed  names  so  that  a  key  to 
the  book  is  required.  One  future  governor  of  the  State, 
James  Whitcomb.  was  grossly  caricatured,  if  not  libeled^ 
Upon  the  character  of  Joseph  A.  Wright,  later  governor, 
United  States  senator  and  United  States  minister  to  Prussia, 
was  put  a  wholly  uncalled  for  imputation.  Hall's  criticisms 
against  the  camp-meetings  are  severe.  They  are  caricatured 
in  a  relentless  manner  \\ith  no  expressions  of  sympathy  with 
the  people,  nor  their  religious  emotion,  to  mitigate  the  bit- 
terness.    His  style  is  not  unlike  that  of  a  theological  con- 

••  See  note  70. 


lylihart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         135 

troversialist  of  that  age.  Roosevelt  truthfully  describes  in  a 
sympathetic  manner  all  of  the  scenes  and  conduct  carica- 
tured by  Hall,  but  in  a  kindly  spirit: 

Mut  though  ttiis  iiii^lit  sociii  (liHtasti'ful  to  an  oltscrvor  of  (Niut-atioit  tiiul 
self-n'straiiit.  it  thrillinJ  tlu»  lirart  i>f  fhi'  riuK'  ami  sliuiiU-  liackwixKisiiiHii 
and  reaclnnl  him  as  he  could  not  iK>s»sil>ly  have  Ikm'U  reached  In  any  other 
manner.  On  the  whole  there  was  an  immense  pain  for  good.  The  i^eople 
received  a  new  llj:ht  and  were  plven  a  s<Mise  of  moral  re.'q)onsll)illty  such 
as  they  had   not   itrcvltPiisiy   iMPSscss«'d.«" 

Against  such  unfair  treatment  of  irresponsible  critics, 
Roosevelt's  virtues: 

riead    like   annels   trunipet-tonjruetl 

with  the  descendants  of  the  men  of  the  "Western  Waters." 
The  descriptions  of  early  life  and  events  in  Indiana  in 
the  New  Purchase  are  many  of  them  ver>'  delightful.  The 
daily  life  and  experiences  of  men  and  women  in  their  work, 
in  the  woods,  their  travels,  and  in  their  home  life,  described 
by  Hall  as  he  saw  it,  will  always  remain  an  interesting  and 
truthful  picture  of  the  pioneer  age  of  Indiana  that  has  passed. 
It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  his  view  point  of  the  peo- 
ple is  that  of  a  leading  actor  in  the  play  of  Hoosier  life,  where 
he  failed  to  succeed,  and  he  makes  no  effort  to  disguise  his 
bitterness  as  a  bad  loser. 

Strictures  in  these  pages  upon  the  man  east  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies  and  north  of  the  Potomac  are  only  intended  for  that 
class  of  people  who  have  shown  contempt  for  western  people 
and  western  manners.  The  westerners  have  been  misunder- 
stood by  such.''"^  There  were  from  the  beginning  tactful  and 
liberal-minded  Yankees  and  New  Yorkers  who  adjusted  per- 
fectly to  pioneer  life  and  were  among  the  most  useful  citi- 
zens. Some  of  them  are  mentioned  among  the  early  leaders 
with  whom  the  English  mingled  on  their  arrival  in  the  wil- 
derness. Some  of  them  have  furnished  the  best  record  now 
existing   of   the    Hoosier    pioneers.      Until   after    the    public 

•»  Winning  of  the  Wfat   (The-  Men  of  thf  W«Btem  WnterB),  IV,  249. 

"Croth«rH  mak<n  thiH  <l«-iir  in  JiIh  comments  on  this  clasH,  ItuludliiK  no  leas 
a  person  than  Janx-N  Rujutfll  I>owcll,  wlio  calls  the  Wf«jtimer  "The  Western 
Goth" — The  Fardoncra   Wallet — Land  of  the  free  and  charitable  air — lit. 


136  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

school  system  of  Indiana  was  established,  this  class  was  the 
chief  reliance  of  the  city  of  Evansville  for  teachers. 

Hall  was  wrecked  on  the  shoals  which  even  today  con- 
fronts ever>'  eastern  man  who  for  the  first  time  comes  west 
as  a  minister  or  teacher  among  western  people — shoals  which 
a  tactless  and  narrowminded  man  cannot  successfully 
navigate. 

Roosevelt  truly  says : 

Till'  opinion  of  liny  nioro  passer  tliroujrli  a  country  is  alwiiy.s  less 
valual>l(>  than  of  an  intelligent  man  who  dwells  and  works  among  the 
people  and  who  [assesses  hoth  insipht  and  sympathy. «» 

Such  a  writer  was  Judge  James  Hall,  a  Philadelphian, 
educated  to  the  bar,  who  served  in  the  army,  settled  at  Shaw- 
neetown,  Illinois,  in  1820,  He  was  circuit  judge  during  which 
he  spent  half  his  time  on  horseback  traveling  the  circuit 
across  the  State  and  was  in  close  touch  with  the  whole  people. 
Later  he  was  treasurer  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  edited  a  maga- 
zine and  wrote  a  number  of  interesting  books  on  western 
life.*'^  He  was  a  leading  man  in  the  State,  of  his  time.  With 
a  knowledge  of  these  people  among  whom  he  spent  his  life 
and  succeeded,  he  has  given  a  fair,  truthful  and  charming 
sketch  of  their  character,  free  from  the  blemish  of  caricatur- 
ists, who  have  done  so  much  to  prejudice  the  people  east  of 
Indiana  against  the  early  Hoosiers.  Frequently  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  rustic  class  is  just  as  vivid  as  is  that  found  in  the 
New  Purchase  or  The  Hoosier  School  Master,  but  it  is  given 
in  a  kindly  spirit. 

Isaac  Reid,  a  Presbyterian  missionary*,  was  pastor  for  a 
year  of  a  New  Albany  church  in  1818,  and  for  about  ten  years 
later  lived  in  southern  Indiana  and  had  every  opportunity  of 
knowing  and  knew  the  people  as  well  as  any  man  of  his  time. 
His  impartial  and  manifestly  truthful  descriptions  of  the  in- 
telligent and  cultured  class  of  Hoosiers,  places  them  on  an 
equality  with  those  of  any  section  in  the  old  Northwest.'* 

Birkbeck   and   George   Flower   lived   among  and   studied 

•  Winning  of  the  West.     Pt.  4.  Ch.   1.   29. 

™  His  best  descriptions  of  people  of  this  section  are  found  in  his  Romance  of 
Weatrrn  Uiatnr)/  or  Skctrhea  of  Hiatorjj,  Life  and  ^fannera  of  the  Wett. 

"  Indiana  aa  aeen  bj/  Earlxt  Travelrra — Lindley.  473-497.  See  also  Caleb 
Atwater  Id.  530.  and  Charles  E.  Coffin.  Id.  533. 


Iglihart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         137 

these  sturdy  pioneers  of  the  wilderness  and  with  other 
friendly  travelers  and  writers  of  that  time,  ^\\e  many  illus- 
trations of  the  high  traits  of  manhood,  intelligence,  inde- 
pendence, and  good  qualities  shown  by  them  under  circum- 
stances of  the  severe  hardships  of  their  lives.  They  place 
them  above  the  common  people  of  Europe  and  to  some  extent 
foretell  the  character  of  the  coming  natives  of  the  west. 

All  this  was  accessible  to  Eggleston  and  Baynard  Rush 
Hall.  It  is  not  believed  that  it  was  intentionally  suppressed 
by  them,  but  it  was  not  to  their  purpose  nor  within  their 
viewpoint.  Under  the  guise  of  fiction  or  fictitious  surround- 
ings, writers  without  restraint,  or  any  seeming  sen.se  of  re- 
sponsibility for  consequences,  have  taJven  unfair  liberties 
with  society,  sometimes  with  an  intent  inconsistent  with  fair- 
ness and  justice,  with  sarcasm  and  ridicule  without  proper 
and  fair  discrimination  in  favor  of  the  best.  We  refer  to 
moral  responsibility.  The  doctrine  of  legal  responsibility  for 
libel  protects  individuals  from  attacks  of  this  kind  whether 
open  or  covert. 

Very  recently  a  leading  western  publishing  house,  which 
issued  a  novel,  was  surprised  with  a  libel  suit  in  New  York, 
upon  the  charge  that  under  a  fictitious  name  the  author  had 
lampooned  a  New  York  judge  against  whom  he  had  a  griev- 
ance, and  on  a  trial  the  jury  gave  the  plaintiff  a  verdict  of 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars  damages  against  the   publisher. 

Such  material  has  been  misleading  and  has  furnished  the 
man  of  the  east  the  opportunity  of  exercising  the  undue  and 
offensive  familiarity  of  the  elder  to  the  younger  brother  in 
the  west.  There  should  be  yet  those,  while  a  few  of  the  chil- 
dren of  those  pioneers  live,  who  have  spent  their  youth  among 
them,  and  who  were  in  sympathy  with  them  during  their 
lives,  who  shall  describe  them,  in  truth  and  justice  and  kind- 
ness, without  the  intrusion  of  descriptions  of  a  lower  and 
disgu.sting  class  of  humanity,  to  unfairly  detract  from  a 
truthful  picture.  An  excellent  foundation  for  this  is  found 
in  a  recent  magazine  article,  entitled  "The  Pioneer  Aris- 
tocracy.""-    It  is  not  fiction,  it  deals  with  facts.     Very  many 

"Dr.  Logan  Ewiry.     Indiuna  Mngutine  of  History,  Sept.   1918. 


138  Indi(nia  Ma(jazine  of  History 

of  them,  furnishing  a  truthful  picture  of  the  life  of  the 
Hoosier  pioneer.  It  is  a  normal  and  sane-minded  description 
of  a  society  which  deserves  the  fairest  and  best  treatment. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  among  the  young 
people  of  Indiana  there  should  be  fostered  a  State  pride,  al- 
ready existing  with  many  people,  not  inferior  to  that  to  be 
found  in  any  American  commonwealth.  They  should  be 
taught  the  beautiful,  the  true  and  the  good  in  its  history  of 
which  there  is  so  much,  rather  than  so  great  over-emphasis 
of  the  husks  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  pioneers 
of  any  of  the  States. 

Roosevelt's  chapters  on  the  Backwoodsmen  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies  and  on  the  Men  of  the  Western  Waters  contain  a 
wealth  of  historical  facts  and  descriptions  of  the  traits  of  the 
native  pioneer.  His  appreciative  sympathy  with  the  fron- 
tiersman has  enabled  him  to  furnish  this  as  no  other  man  has 
done.  This  has  been  supplemented  by  the  work  of  Dr.  Fred- 
erick Turner,  who  has  been  concerned  with  the  reactive  in- 
fluences of  the  central  west  upon  the  east,  with  the  develop- 
ment of  institutions,  and  the  later  histoiy  of  events  in  which 
he  has  been  the  best  interpreter  of  the  life  of  the  people  of 
this  section  of  the  time  of  which  we  write. 

There  were  also  men,  a  few  of  whom  have  been  men- 
tioned, living  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  at  that  time  ca- 
pable of  giving  fair,  friendly  and  discriminating  sketches  of 
the  men  and  women  with  whom  they  lived  and  who  knew  the 
sources  of  population  out  of  which  that  composite  society  was 
formed,  and  who  have  left  such  a  record. 

These,  with  other  writers,  with  the  testimony  of  people 
still  living  who  personally  knew  many  of  the  men  and  women 
who  were  pioneers  in  the  period  mentioned,  furnish  a  key 
to  a  fair  and  impartial  history  of  the  life  and  character  of 
the  Hoosier  aristocracy  yet  to  be  written. 

Neighbors  of  Lincoln 

It  is  a  coincidence  that  when  Abraham  Lincoln  came  to 
Indiana  in  the  summer  of  1816,  a  boy  of  seven  years  of  age, 
he  located  in  Perry  county,  then  less  than  a  mile  from  the  line 


lyU'hcrt:     Comiiuj  of  the  English  to  Indiana         139 

of  Warrick  county,  in  which  was  then  Hvinp  Joseph  Lane, 
who  came  from  Kentucky  in  1S16."-'  P'ourteen  years  hiter, 
Lincohi.  then  twenty-one  years  old,  moved  to  Illinois.  Still 
later.  .Josei)ii  Lane  moved  to  Orejfon.  in  isr)(),  when  the  Lin- 
coln and  Hamlin  Presidential  ticket  was  elected,  Jo.seph 
Lane  was  a  candidate  for  \'ice-President  on  the  opposing; 
ticket  of  Preckenrid^o  and  Lane."'  It  is  generally  a.ssunied 
that  Lincoln  first  came  to  Spencer  county,  a  river  county, 
which  adjoins  Warrick  county  on  the  ea.st,  l)ut  Spencer  county 
was  not  created  until  the  act  of  the  legislature  of  January 
10.  1818,  was  passed,"'  Warrick  county,  when  created  out 
of  Knox  county,  March  9,  1813,  extended  from  the  Wabash 
river  to  Harrison  county.""  Nicolay  and  Hay"  show  an  inti- 
macy, with  intermarriages,  between  the  Boones  and  Lincolns 
of  an  early  time,  and  that  the  grandfather  of  President  Lin- 
coln followed  Daniel  Boone  to  Kentucky.  It  is  also  true  that 
the  Lincolns.  uncle  and  cousins  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  followed 
Squire  Boone,  brother  of  Daniel  Boone,  to  Harrison  county. 
Indiana.'"^  and  Thomas  Lincoln,  while  following  his  brother 
to  Indiana,  settled  within  twenty  miles  of  Ratliff  Boone,  of 
Boonville,  Warrick  county,  w^ho  had  lived  in  Indiana  terri- 
tory since  1809  and  who  represented  Spencer  county  in  con- 
grress,  while  the  Lincolns  lived  there.  Mr.  J.  Ed.  Murr  was 
reared  near  the  Lincolns  as  neighbors   in  Harrison  county. 

"  Fortune,   Warrick  ami  its  Prominent  People,  76. 

'♦  See  note  43. 

"  History  of  Warrick,  Spencer  and  Perry  Counties,  277. 

w/d..  3«. 

"  lAfe  of  Lincoln,  V.  I.  p.  4. 

"Squire  Boone  settled  in  Harrison  county  In  1802  .and  there  Daniel  Boone 
frequently  visited  and  hunted.  Wm.  H.  Roose,  Indiana's  lUrthplace — History  of 
Harrison  County,  p.  7.  FUitliff  Boone,  congressman  of  the  Lincolns,  as  well  as 
of  the  people  of  the  EhKllsh  settlement,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  twenty  and 
twenty-one  years  old  and  earlier,  was  a  man  of  considerable  education,  but  moved 
to  Missouri  late  in  the  30*8  and  dlttl  there  In  the  40".s.  He  was  undoubtedly  very 
familiar  with  his  constituents,  the  W'heelers,  Hlllyards,  Hornbrooks.  Ingles,  Maid- 
lows  and  others,  who  had  brought  IkkjUs  from  EnKhind.  as  well  as  the  Lincolns 
and  It  la  probable  that  Abraham  Lincoln  learned  of  the  fact :  whether  he  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  rend  any  of  such  books,  history  Is  silent.  The 
■WheeW-rs.  Hilly.'irds,  Hornbrooks,  Maidlows  and  InKles  w«'re  not  living  when  the 
coiiiiiaratlsfly  limited  UuiulrleH  at  a  late  date  were  made  amoiiK  Lincoln's  ac- 
quaintances In  Sp<'ncer  county.  A  few  of  them,  only,  lived  until  Lincoln  became 
President,  and  if  any  of  the  persons  mentioneii  ever  referred  to  his  n'sidcnce  In 
Bouthwestvni  Indiana  ao  close  to  the  8<-ltlcinent  there  la  no  one  now  llvinjf  who 
hcanl  and  remembers  It. 


140  I)i/fiana  Magazine  of  Histoid 

When  Saunders  Hornbrook,  the  original  pioneer  of  the 
English  settlement,  located  upon  his  choice  in  the  wilderness 
in  October  or  November,  1817,  it  was  forty  miles  west  of  the 
farm  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  location  now  occupied  by  Lin- 
coln City  in  Spencer  county. 

In  1825,  one  of  the  pioneers  elsewhere  mentioned,  in  the 
eastern  border  of  the  settlement  in  Campl^ell  township,  War- 
rick county,  about  twenty  miles  west  of  where  Lincoln  lived, 
was  a  magistrate  and  later  a  lay  judge  and  many  years 
county  commissioner  in  Warrick  county. 

Luke  Grant,  one  of  the  settlement,  built  a  mill  at  Millers- 
burgh  in  1825'"  still  nearer  the  Lincoln  farm,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  Lincoln,  who  was  born  February  12,  1809,  and 
was  then  between  16  and  17  years  of  age,  had  dealings  with 
or  knew  some  of  these  settlers.  Certain  it  is  that  Lincoln 
acquired  the  habit  of  attending  court  at  Boonville,  then  and 
now  the  county  seat  of  Warrick  county.^'' 

The  leaders  of  the  Saundersville  and  Blue  Grass  locations 
(the  latter  about  thirty  miles  west  of  Lincoln  City),  from  the 
period  of  1818  to  1830,  when  Lincoln,  twenty-one  years  old, 
left  Indiana,  had  a  nwmber  of  volumes  of  the  classics  of  Eng- 
lish poetry  and  prose,  and  enjoyed  the  music  and  culture  of 
old  English  life.  There  are  still  living  descendants  of  the 
English,  old  people,  who  learned  their  childhood  speech  from 
men  and  women  born  in  England,  more  than  one  hundred 
years  ago,  from  those  who  spoke  the  language  of  England 
in  its  purity,  and  who  preserved  in  the  wilderness  its  litera- 
ture, music,  culture  and  religion,  and  delivered  them  to  their 
children  and  children's  children.  These  old  people,  even  yet 
in  their  childhood  memories,  treasure  the  nurser>'  rhymes, 
humor  and  family  traditions  of  England,  the  plaintive  poetry 
of  Tom  Moore,  Thomas  Campbell  and  others,  commemorat- 
ing the  martyrs  of  the  Irish  Rel^ellion  and  deploring  the  loss 
of  Iri.sh  liberty,  .set  to  a  sad  music,  as  well  as  the  martial 
strains  of  Scott  and  Burns.'''     These  conditions  mentioned  in 

•»  K<>rtvm»',   Wnrrirk  CoUMt]/  Prominrnt  Proplr,  36. 

••J.  Kd.  Murr.  History  of  Lincoln,  Indiana  Magazine  of  History,  June  1S18 — 
150-154-1.S9-160  ;   Lnmon'a  Life  of  Lincoln,  67. 

**  King  Atcohol  Dethroned,  by  Rev.  F.  C.  Iglehart.  D.  D..  71.  This  .author, 
who  refers  to  thtse  memories,  is  a  representative  of  three  of  the  pioneer  families 


Iglehart:     Comhuj  of  the  FtKjlush  to  Indiana         141 

the  British  settlement  were  probably  nearer  to  the  Lincoln 
location  than  any  similar  opportunity  in  the  wilderness.  Lin- 
coln's nature  craved  books.  He  traveled  on  foot  long  dis- 
tances to  get  them.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  of  the  Breck- 
enridge  home  near  Boonville  to  read  and  borrow  law  books.**- 
The  Evansville  Weekly  Gazette  was  published  at  Evan.s- 
ville  from  1821  to  1825,  inclusive,  and  it  pul^lished  legal  and 
other  court  notices  for  Spencer,  Warrick  and  all  adjoining 
counties.  It  was  the  only  newspaper  in  the  section  outside  of 
Vincennes  and  New  Harmony,  and  contained  much  news  of 
public  interest  and  matters  local  in  the  congressional  district, 
which  included  Spencer  county,  where  Lincoln  lived  at  the 
age  of  16  and  over.  Its  election  returns  were  gathered  and 
published  with  noteworthy  enterprise  and  embraced  out- 
side counties. 

There  were  published  in  1820  to  1830  weekly  newspapers 
in  Evansville,^'  New  Harmony, ^^  Vincennes,**''  and  Cory- 
don"*',  the  files  of  which  are  now  accessible,  perhaps  for  other 
periods,  though  complete  files  are  not  preserved.  During  all 
that  period  Spencer  county  was  in  the  same  congressional 
district  with  Evansville,  Princeton  and  New  Harmony,  much 
of  the  time  represented  in  congress  by  Ratlilf  Boone,   who 

In  the  tirst  British  sc-ttk-im-nt  In  Indiana,  and  was  born  in  the  eastern  edge  of  it 
in  1845.  His  mother  was  born  in  Somershani,  the  town  where  Faux  lived,  and 
as  a  child  five  years  old.  came  with  her  widowed  mother  to  her  uncle  John  Ingle 
of  Saundersville.  His  fatljer  was  born  in  Kentucity.  Both  )»is  father's  parents 
were  Tidewater  Marylanders.  He  was  one  of  tlie  native  Hoosier  ministers,  not 
mentioned  among  the  names  elsewliere  referred  to  as  of  an  earlier  period.  But 
the  same  influences  which  created  the  first  effective  native  ministry  In  south- 
western Indiana  under  Parrett  and  Wheeler,  undoubtedly  reached  him  in  his 
home  life.  He  knew  and  lieard  preach  l)Otli  Parrett  and  Wheeler  in  tlieir  later 
life.  He  was  chosen  as  a  platform  orator  and  temperance  debater,  from  among 
the  New  York  ministers,  after  a  dranuitic  and  successful  answer  to  Mr.  Jerome, 
attorney  for  the  brewers  and  liquor  dealers  in  a  hearing  before  the  Temperance 
Committee  of  the  New  York  legislature  in  a  large  hall  In  Albany  and  for  over 
ten  years  acted  :ls  superintendent  of  tlie  Anti-Saloon  League  of  greater  New  York. 
Few,  if  any,  have  pt.-rformed  greater  8er\'ice  in  that  cause.  At  the  close  of  a  long 
and  succesBful  career  as  minister,  lecturer,  writer  and  temperance  leader,  ho 
publlshe<l.  under  a  prophetic  title,  at  the  opp<jrtune  moment,  the  book  referre<l  to, 
which  1b  authority  ui><)n  the  facts  In  tlje  history  of  tlie  liquor  trafllc. 

"  Murr's  Mncolii,  Ind.  .V«y.  //i»f..  June,   iyi8,  p.  159. 

■  Kvansvllle  dasette   \^Z\   to   18J5   Inclusive. 

•*New  Harmony  Uaxette  1825  to  1828;  N.  H.  DUaeminator  1828-1829;  N.  H. 
and  Nashoba  (.asette  1828-1831. 

•  H'rafrm  Sun  <(  Beneral  Adverliaer  1819  to  1830  and  later. 

-Indiana  Sentinel  and  Adverfiaer  1820-1821. 


142  luffiana  Marjazine  of  History 

lived  only  about  twenty  miles  from  Lincoln.  Boone  was  Lin- 
coln's congressman  the  last  two  years  the  latter  lived  in  Indi- 
ana as  well  as  formerly.  There  was  a  direct  i)uhiic  road  from 
Piinceton  to  New  Harmony,  one  from  Evansville  to  Boon- 
ville  and  from  Kvansville  throuph  Saundersville  to  Princeton 
and  Vincennes.  also  to  New  Harmony,  and  one  from  Boon- 
ville  through  Saundersville  to  New  Harmony.  The  latter 
town,  as  its  newspapers  show,  was  the  center  of  literary  cul- 
ture of  respectable  character  compared  with  the  best  culture 
of  that  age,  anywhere.  Very  early  a  road  ran  from  Corydon 
to  Evansville,  passing  by  Lincoln's  farm  through  what  is  now 
known  as  Gentryville.'^^ 

Easy  and  frequent  communication  by  river  existed  from 
all  the  points  named  (except  Princeton  and  Corydon)  to  and 
from  Troy,  Rockport  and  Anderson  creek,  where  the  Lincolns 
are  frequently  found  during  this  period.  A  stage  line  run- 
ning on  schedule  time  between  Evansville.  Pi'inceton  and 
Vincennes.  making  one  trip  a  week,  was  established  and  first 
put  in  operation  in  the  summer  of  1824.**^  This  continued  till 
a  railroad  was  put  in  operation  nearly  thii'ty  years  later. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  once  a  yeai-  or  oftener,  went  to  Prince- 
ton to  Col.  James  Evans  for  carding  of  wool.  Evans'  brother, 
Gen.  Robert  ]\L  Evans,  was  for  several  years  a  tavern 
keeper  and  assistant  postmaster  at  New  Harmony  in  the  year 
1827  and  later.^-'  General  Evans  was  an  interesting  charac- 
ter and  figured  much  in  the  newspapers  in  Evansville.  New 
Harmony  and  Vincennes.  and  it  is  altogether  prol^able  that 
his  brother,  the  wool  carder  at  Princeton,  had  the  newspapers 
of  the  day,  for  so  eager  an  inquirer  for  "news"  and  a  cus- 
tomer as  Lincoln  is  shown  during  that  period  to  have  been."" 
Evans  was  enterprising  enough  to  advertise  his  wool  card- 
ing machine  in  the  Evansville  Gazctte,^*^  which,  no  doubt,  cir- 
culated in  the  Lincoln  neighl)orhood. 

Corydon,  from  1816  to  1825,  the  capital  of  the  State,  about 

"^  Lamon's  Lincoln.  24. 

"Evansville  Uatette,  July  14.  1824.  Full  details  of  this  interesting  event  are 
advertised. 

•New  Harmony  Gtuette.  Feb.  14.  1827. 

••  Murr's  "History  of  Lincoln."  Indiana  Ungatinc  of  History. 

« E\•ans^•iUe  Oatette,  Juno  20.  1823. 


Ighha)-i:     Cominu  of  the  Knglish  to  Indiana  14.'J 

fifty-five  miles  distant  from  the  lincoln  farm,  was  near  the 
center  of  the  large  family  of  Lincoln  uncles  and  cousins."- 
The  few  details  preserved  of  Lincoln's  early  life,  up  to  man- 
hood, and  his  character  as  the  world  later  knew  him,  show 
him  to  have  been  too  aggressive  and  earnest  in  search  for 
knowledge  of  the  outside  world  to  have  been  ignorant  of  all 
of  these  sources  of  information,  which  for  that  age  were 
fairly  easy  of  access  to  him,  without  doubt.  Many  of  the 
interesting  facts  of  his  life  in  Indiana  have  been  wholly  lost 
to  history.  That  no  record  is  preserved  of  his  knowledge  ob- 
tained from  any  of  these  sources  may  be  accounted  for  in  the 
death  of  the  people  of  that  time,  capable  of  appreciating  its 
importance,  before  Lincoln  became  famous,  or  that  the  facts 
involved  may  have  escaped  inquiry  later,  or  that  many  of  the 
illiterate  of  his  neighbors  may  not  have  known  or  remem- 
bered such  facts. 

It  is  easier  to  believe  this  than  that  Abraham  Lincoln  re- 
mained ignorant  of  all  these  avenues  of  information  till  after 
he  was  21  years  old.  Miss  Robey,  to  whom  Lincoln  paid  spe- 
cial attention  as  a  young  woman,  who  later  married  Allen 
Gentry,  said  of  Lincoln :  "He  was  better  read  than  the  world 
knows  or  is  likely  to  know  exactly."''  At  19,  Lincoln  read 
every  book  he  could  find.'"  Tarbell  gives  the  usual  short 
list  of  books  which  the  scant  information  of  his  life  in  Indi- 
ana furnishes,  and  says :  "These  are  the  chief  ones  we  know 
about.*  *  *  beside  these  he  borrowed  many  other  books. 
*  *  *  He  once  told  a  friend  that  he  read  through  every 
book  he  had  ever  heard  of  in  that  country,  for  a  circuit  of 
fifty  miles.""''  John  T.  Richards,  president  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  reviews  the  scant  evidence  on  this  subject 
from  a  lawyer's  standpoint,  and  says  that  it  is  unfortunate 
that  l)eyond  a  general  statement  that  while  a  youth  in  Indi- 
ana, Lincoln  read  the  Bible,  Shakespeare,  Pilgrint's  Progress 
and  Weems'  Life  of  Washington  and  such  other  books  as  he 
could    borrow,    there    is    no    evidence    available    as    to    the 

"  Murr'B  "History  of  Lincoln."  Ind.  May.  of  Uiatury,  Doc.   1917,  p.  307. 
"Ward  H.  I^mon.  Life  of  Lincoln  70,  Ilmtdon,  Vol.  I,  39. 
**  Nlcolay  &  Hay.  V.  I.  p.  41'. 
••  Life  of  Lincoln,  V.  I,  p.  29. 


144  Indiana  Magazine  of  Histary 

books  which  aided  in  the  development  of  his  mind  up  to  the 
time  when  he  removed  to  Illinois;  and  in  referring:  to  Lincoln 
as  an  educated  man,  says  that  his  early  speeches  and  writ- 
ings show  a  marked  familiarity  with  history  and  knowledge 
of  the  English  language.'"-  Arnold  says  Lincoln  read  Burns' 
poems  and  other  books  till  he  was  familiar  with  them.''"  One 
of  the  children  of  the  first  generation  born  in  the  English  set- 
tlement speaks  of  Burns'  Po(  nus  as  among  his  childhood 
memories,  heirlooms  from  English  homelife,  "the  voice  of 
Burns  across  tlie  sea."**** 

The  Spirit  of  the  Ohio  Valley 

Our  national  history  has  for  the  most  part  been  written 
by  New  England  men.  but  from  a  sectional  viewpoint,  which 
over-estimated  Puritan  influence  in  the  development  of  na- 
tional character.''"*  When  we  sing  "My  Country  'Tis  of  Thee" 
the  country  that  is  visualized  is  very  small.  The  author  of 
the  hymn  was  a  New  England  clerg>'man  and  naturally 
enough  described  New  England  and  called  it  America.  It  is 
a  land  of  rocks  and  rills  and  woods,  and  the  hills  are  templed 
in  Puritan  fashion  by  while  meeting  houses;  for  the  early 
New  Englander,  like  erring  Israel  of  old,  loved  to  worship 
on  the  high  places.  Over  it  all  is  one  great  tradition :  "It 
is  the  land  of  the  Pilgrim's  pride."'"" 

The  American  spirit — the  traits  that  have  come  to  be  rec- 
ognized as  the  mo.st  characteristic — was  developed  in  the  new 
commonwealths  that  sprang  into  life  beyond  the  seaboard."" 

**  Abrahttm    Linmln.   Lawyer  oiftd   Statesihan,   P.    1-3: 

•^  Life  of  Lincoln  21. 

"See  note  81.  An  editorial  obitii.iry  notice  of  the  Evansvlllo  Courier  fuly 
2S,  18S2.  of  the  cUuth  of  Mrs.  Ann  Cowlo  iRlchart.  wifo  of  As.'i  lKl«^hart.  CT^nnd- 
dauKhtiT  of  John  Inple  of  Som'Tsham.  says:  "The  f:imlly  of  which  Mrs.  lKlt'h.irt 
came  w»to  not  lackinK  In  lltt-mry  tasto,  .ind  In  th.at  •■;irly  day,  when  a  b(ic»k  w.aa 
unknown  to  most  of  the  homvs  of  th.at  neighborhood,  th<.>  family  of  Mark  Wheeler. 
|»er  stepfather,  was  supplied  with  a  library.  The  children  of  tho  family,  con- 
trary to  th<-  other  familios  of  that  tim-,  spent  their  long  winter  evenings  reading 
stan«lard   EnRlLsh  works."' 

••  Wood  row  Wilson.  Thr  courar  of  Amrriran  Ilistnrxj  (men-  literautro),  218. 

»••  .«!amuel  McChord  Crothers,  The  Pardoners  Wallet — The  land  of  the  large 
and  charitable  air.  14S.  This  brilliant  writer  Mas  actually  found  a  true  American 
instinct  in  old  MIrandy  Means,  who.  he  says,  "formulatfd  thf  wisdom  of  the 
pioneer"  who  pre-emptfd  more  land  than  he  could  cxjltlvatp.   Id.   171. 

•"Frederick  Turner.  Rise  of  the  Jfew  West   (1820-1830).  68. 


Iglihart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         145 

The  Atlantic  frontier  had  to  work  upon  European  germs. 
Moving  westward  each  new  frontier  was  more  and  more 
American  at  the  start ;  and  soon  the  older  communities  were 
reacted  upon  wholesomely  by  the  simplicity  and  democracy 
of  the  west.  These  considerations  give  the  key  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  west  in  American  history.'"-     Says  Frederick  G. 

'"^William  Mason  West.  Hiatorn  of  the  American  People,  270. 

Turner: 

Aiuorimn  s<»ci;il  tU'veloimiont  has  lui-ii  Odiitlnually  beginning  over 
again  on  the  frontier.  This  perennial  rebirth,  this  fluidity  of  American 
life,  this  expansion  westward  with  its  new  opiM>rtunltie8,  this  contnuous 
toufh  with  the  simplicity  of  primitive  society,  furnish  the  forces  domi- 
nating American  character.  •  •  ♦  The  frontier  is  the  line  of  most 
rapid  an«l  eflfiHtlve  Americanization. 

The  west  at  bottom  is  a  form  of  society  rather  than  area. 
The  problem  of  the  west  is  nothing  less  than  the  problem  of 
American  development.  Today  the  old  Northwest  is  the  key- 
stone to  the  American  commonwealth. ^''-^ 

Mr.  West  states  that  Dr.  Turner  is  the  first  true  inter- 
preter of  the  frontier  in  our  history.'"^  This  author  (Tur- 
ner), with  the  advantage  of  the  most  complete  collection  of 
materials  upon  the  west  which  has  ever  been  brought  to- 
gether— The  Library^  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Historical  So- 
cietyi"^,  has  in  his  recent  writings  given  to  the  people  of  the 
States  of  the  central  west,  embracing  the  location  and  period 
we  are  here  considering,  their  ance.stry,  emigration  and  the 
establishment  by  them  of  the  true  non-sectional  American 
Democracy,  a  dignity  and  importance  never  recognized 
before.'"" 

Mr.  Murr's  Histor>%  in  the  fullest  detail,  discusses  the 
frontier  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Indiana,  from  the  age 
of  7  to  21,  from  1816  to  1830,  during  which  period  he  lived  in 

•"Turner.  Atlantic  Monthly,  V.  78.  p.  289.  V.  79.  p.  433. 

'•*  Wf8t.   History  of  the  American   People,  270 — note. 

"•Albtrt  BuHhntll  Hart,  Editorial  Prefa*-.-  to  Turn<r"ii  Rise  of  the  Sew  West. 

»^  Krt-d trick  O.  Turnt-r.  "The  Slgnlflcanco  of  tho  Frontier."  In  American 
History  Report  1893,  American  Hlirtorlcul  Auociation  199.  "Contributions  of  the 
West  to  Amirlcjui  Dcmoonlcy."  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  91,  p.  83.  "The  Middle 
W<irt."  International  Monthly,  IV.  794.  "Prolilem  of  the  West,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  Vol.  'X,  p.  283.  "Dominant  Korcoa  In  Wowtern  IJf«>."  Atlantic  79.  488. 
Rise  of  th«  New  We$t  (The  American  Nation  History),  ©ditcd  A.  B.  Hart. 


14{j  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

Indiana,  and  justly  claims  that  his  character  was  moulded 
and  developed  by  his  Hoosier  surroundings.  He  claims  that 
the  boy  was  father  to  the  man.  In  an  address  to  an  Indiana 
regiment  of  Civil  war  soldiers.  President  Lincoln  said:  "I 
was  born  in  Kentucky,  raised  in  Indiana,  and  now  live  in 
Illinois." 

Edward  Eygleston,  in  iiis  biograjihy  elsewhere  mentioned, 
gives  the  greatest  importance  to  the  "formative  influences" 
of  his  youth  wliile  living  in  Southern  Indiana,  on  his  career 
as  an  author,  in  which  he  says  he  was  only  drawing  on  the 
resources  which  the  very  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  lif^ 
had  put  at  his  disposal.  He  adds:  "Is  it  Herder  who  says, 
my  whole  life  is  but  the  interpretation  of  the  oracles  of  my 
childhood?"'"" 

The  Lincoln  type,  in  figure,  movement,  features,  facial 
make-up,  simplicity  of  speech  and  thought,  gravity  of  coun- 
tenance, and  integrity  and  truthfulness  of  life,  as  it  stands 
accredited  by  the  vast  number  of  writers  on  Lincoln,  is  in  a 
substantial  degree  a  Hoosier  type  in  southern  Indiana  today. 
It  may  be  still  found  in  the  judge  on  the  bench,  the  lawyer 
at  the  bar,  the  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  and  others  descended 
from  pioneer  stock  who  are  forceful  and  intelligent  leaders 
of  the  common  people. '"«  It  should  be  remembered  that  pre- 
vious to  1830  the  population  of  the  farmer  pioneers  of  south- 
ern Indiana  who  did  not  come  from  Kentucky  and  the  south, 
were  the  exceptions.  Turner  correctly  says  that  it  is  the 
southern  element  today  which  differentiates  Indiana  from 
Ohio,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan,  her  sister  states  of 
the  old  Northwest.  The  central  west,  like  the  southwest,  took 
its  early  impress  from  the  central  Atlantic  coast  States  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  Until  the  inven- 
tion of  the  cotton  gin,  when  cotton  plantations  made  slave 

'•f /••onoM.  X,  290. 

'°"  An  okl  Civil  war  soldier  livinR  In  Illinois  knew  Lincoln  as  a  surveyor  In 
Illinois  and  hoard  the  Lincoln -Doujf las  debate  at  Freeport.  After  he.aring  Rev. 
J.  E.  Miirr  deliver  an  address  on  Lincoln,  he  came  to  him  and  fiaid :  "I  hope  you 
won't  mind  my  saying  that  you.  of  all  men  I  ever  n»et,  remind  me  most  of  Lin- 
coln at  3".  to  40.  Your  st.'iture  is  not  as  (freat  but  your  face,  manner  and  speech 
and  the  little  ways  you  have  curry  me  back  to  Lincoln."  Mr.  Murr  was  bom  In 
Corjdon,  of  Kentucky  parentage,  and  is  now  pastor  of  Bayard  Park  M.  B. 
Church,  a  prominent  church  In  EvansvlUe. 


Iglfhart:     Cominy  of  the  English  to  Imliana         147 

labor  very  profitable,  the  west,  lyinj?  north  of  the  Ohio  river, 
and  southwest  were  much  alike,'"''  and  the  resemblance 
and  sympathy  between  the  people  of  those  sections  are 
strontr  today. 

It  was  only  after  the  institution  of  slavery  settled  firmly 
and  generally  upon  the  south  that  the  people  of  the  country 
north  of  the  Ohio  river  became  distinctly  separate.  Lincoln 
came  to  Indiana  in  181G,  the  year  of  its  admission  as  a  State, 
with  a  provision  in  its  constitution  a^^ain.st  slavery.  No  one 
can  doubt  the  influence  upon  Lincoln,  the  child  and  youn^? 
man.  in  his  life  upon  the  free  soil  of  Indiana.  Eggleston 
gives  strong  testimony  on  this  point  in  his  biographical 
sketch""  when  he  describes  slavery  in  its  mildest  form  among 
his  father  people's  people  in  Virginia,  and  after  a  year's  resi- 
dence there  at  the  age  of  16,  on  his  return  to  Indiana,  he 
later  says : 

From  the  time  of  uiy  visit  t<»  Virginia  I  couiitiHl  myself  nu  Almlltionist. 

The  influence  and  necessities  of  slavery  in  the  south  re- 
quired control  of  the  press  and  in  a  degree  the  freedom  of 
speech.  Brander  Mathews  has  shown,  upon  no  less  authority 
than  Thomas  Nelson  Page  and  Prof.  William  P.  Trent,  in  his 
biography  of  William  Gilmore  Sims,  that  this  restraint  was 
one  of  the  chief  causes  which  prevented  the  growth  of  a 
southern  literature  before  the  Civil  war."'  Free  land  and 
free  institutions  were  the  hope  of  the  poor  as  well  as  more 
thrifty  white  people,  which  brought  them  across*  the  Ohio 
river.  After  Kentucky  had  become  well  settled,  land  was 
more  expensive  and  slavery  had  become  a  permanent  in- 
stitution. 

It  was  destined  that  the  Apostle  of  Freedom  was  to  come 
of  this  class,  and  to  be  removed  from  the  heavy  weight  with 
which  slavery  bore  upon  the  poor  whites.  Out  of  the  spirit  of 
American  democracy  came  the  ideal  now  to  direct  the  des- 

•"Allien  Biiiihnill  Hart,  EJdltorlal  introduction  to  Turner's  Rise  of  the  New 
M'rsi,  XIV.  Id.  p.  75-91.',  i'j  :  V.  C  Turner.  "Dominant  Forc«'8  in  Wtstcrn  LiK-," 
Atlantic.  79.  43S  ;  "The  SiBnlcanci-  of  tli«  frontier  in  Aim-rlcan  Hiiilory,"  Am. 
Hist.  Aaan.  R.  1893.  p.  220;  RooBt-velt,  Winyting  tht-  Wvat,  Ch.  Mt-n  of  the  Wful- 
ern    Waters. 

"•  Forum,  X.  288. 

•"Brander  Mathews.   Aspects  of  Fiction — Two  Studieg  of  the  South. 


148  hidiana  Magazine  of  History 

tinies  of  the  new  British  settlers  and  their  Hoosier  neighbors, 
one  of  whom  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  general  British 
emigration,  of  which  the  Illinois  and  Indiana  colonies  were 
part,  began  when  Indiana  became  a  State  in  1816  with  a  con- 
stitution prohibiting  slavery.  It  was  no  accident  that  in  that 
year  Thomas  and  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  with  the  boy  Abra- 
ham, came  from  a  slave  State  to  the  free  soil  and  free  institu- 
tions of  Indiana  and  settled  in  the  wilderness  of  southwest- 
ern Indiana.  The  ideals  operating  on  Lincoln  in  his  youth 
while  he  was  a  southern  Indiana  Hoosier  at  the  time  in  the 
location  we  are  considering,  as  compared  with  those  then 
existing  in  slave  territory,  are  thus  stated  by  Turner :''- 

The  tiiitunil  deiuocTiitlc  tendencies  tbat  had  earlier  shown  themselves 
in  the  Gulf  States  were  destroyed,  however,  by  the  spread  of  cotton  cul- 
ture and  tJio  dovelopuient  of  preat  plantations  in  that  repion.  What  had 
been  typical  of  the  democracy  of  the  Itcvolution.iry  frontier  and  of  the 
frontier  of  Andrew  Jackson  was  now  to  he  seen  in  the  States  between  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississip|)i.  As  Andrew  .7ack.'*on  is  the  typical  democrat  of 
the  former  region,  so  Abraham  IJncoln  is  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
pioneer  period  of  the  old  Tiorthwpst.  Indofnl.  ho  is  the  embodiment  of  the 
democracy  of  the  west. 

The  pioneer  life  from  which  Lincoln  came  diflfere<l  in  important  re- 
si)ects  from  the  frontier  democracy  tjTiitiwl  by  Andrew  Jack.son.  J.-ickson's 
democracy  was  contentious,  individualistic,  and  it  sought  tlio  i<leal  of  local 
self-povornment  and  oxi»ansion.  Lincoln  represents  rather  the  jiioneer 
folk  who  enteretl  the  forest  of  the  great  northwest  to  chop  out  a  home, 
to  build  up  their  fortunes  in  the  midst  of  a  continually  ascending  indus- 
trial movement.  In  the  democracy  of  the  southwest,  industrial  develop- 
ment and  city  life  were  only  minor  factors,  but  to  the  democracy  of  the 
northwest  they  were  its  very  life.  To  widen  the  area  of  the  clearing,  to 
contend  with  one  another  for  the  mastery  of  the  industrial  resources  of 

'""Contributions  of  the  West  to  American  Democracy,"  Atlantic  Sfonthly, 
XCI,  89. 

De.vrlptlona  of  life  In  southern  Indlan.i  by  many  of  the  blopraphers  of 
Lincoln,  Including  T.arbell.  I,  p.  47,  Nicolay  &  Hay,  I.  Ch.  2.  arc  given  as  the  back- 
ground to  the  picture  of  a  great  character,  of  world-wide  Interest,  and  are  too 
comprehensive  and  open  too  wide  .a  field  for  the  present  Inquiry  :  however,  a  field 
well  worthy  of  study  in  connection  with  an  lnquir>-  into  the  ch.T.racter  of  the  early 
farmer  pioneers  In  the  wild<-me.'«s.  John  Hay  was  born  at  S.ilem.  Ind..  Oct.  8, 
1838,  less  than  a  year  after  the  birth  of  Edward  Kggleston  at  Vevay.  Dec.  10, 
1837,  not  over  60  miles  distant.  None  of  these  writers  have  Interpreted  the  mean- 
ing of  life  in  the  old  Northwest  with  the  vision  of  Dr.  Turner,  whose  works  deal 
with  the  period  during  which  Lincoln  lived  In  southwestern  Indiana,  from  1S16 
to  1830.  which  covers  the  time  as  well  as  the  territory  embraced  in  the  present 
Inquiry. 


Iglehaft:     Coyning  of  the  English  to  In^Iiami         149 

the  rich  proTlm't's,  itt  struggle  for  a  place  In  the  Hs^eiulluK  luovfuii-ul  uf 
■oclety,  to  tniiisiult  tt»  one's  offsprlnK  the  chance  for  education,  for  ludu»- 
trlal  hetteriuent,  for  the  rise  lu  life  which  the  hardshlpn  of  the  pioneer 
existence  tleiiitsl  to  tlic  pioneer  Iiliiiself,  these  were  some  (»f  the  IdeulH  of 
the  region  to  which  Lincoln  came.  The  men  were  commonwealth  huilderx. 
Industry  hullders.  Whereas  the  type  of  hero  In  the  southwest  was  mili- 
tant, in  the  northwest  h«'  was  industrial.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these 
"plain  iuMtjile."  as  he  1ov»h1  to  call  them,  that  Lincoln  urew  to  uianhood. 
As  Knjerson  says:  "He  is  the  true  history  of  the  American  iKHjple  in  his 
time."  The  years  of  his  early  life  were  the  years  when  the  (lemocra«-y  of 
the  northwest  came  Into  struggle  with  the  institution  of  slavery  that  threat- 
ene«l  to  forhid  the  expansion  of  the  democratic  pioneer  life  in  the  west. 

The  ideal  of  the  west  was  its  emphasis  upon  the  worth 
and  possibilities  of  the  common  man,  of  its  belief  in  the  right 
of  every  man  to  rise  to  the  full  measure  of  his  owti  nature, 
under  conditions  of  social  mobility.  Western  democracy  was 
no  theorist's  dream.  It  came  stark  and  strong  and  full  of  life 
from  the  American  forest."-'  The  westerner  has  been  the 
type  and  master  of  our  national  life.''*  The  comparatively 
recent  publication  and  reprint  with  notes  by  Dr.  Thwaites 
of  the  writings  of  early  western  travelers  in  thirty-odd  vol- 
umes are  treated  by  Dr.  Turner  in  a  review""-  as  a  sign  of 
the  interest  that  is  aroused  in  western  history,  and  an  indi- 
cation that  the  region  this  side  of  the  Allegheny  mountains 
has  reached  the  stage  that  comes  to  every  people,  when  in  the 
pride  of  achievement  it  turns  to  survey  the  records  of  its  past. 

The  Hoosier  has  come  into  his  own.  He  demands  a  fair 
interpretation  of  those  records,  and  is  proud  of  them.  He  has 
no  patience  with  apologists  at  home,  who  have  been  misled 
by  unfair  interpretation,  nor  with  the  condescending  criti- 
cisms of  certain  people  of  other  States.  No  intelligent  and 
fair-minded  person  will  judge  the  character  of  a  whole  people 
in  pioneer  Indiana  at  the  beginning  of  the  State  by  the  care- 
less or  malicious  sketches  of  the  lowest  class  of  people  cor- 
rectly de.scribed  by  Dr.  Turner  as  "the  scum  that  the  waves  of 
advancing  civilization  bore  before  them.""" 

•»*  Fnd.rick  G.  Turner.  Rise  of  the  New  West.  1S19-1S29.  86. 
"♦  Woodrow  Wilson.   The  Course  of  American  IJiatori/  (mere  literatur0),  218. 
•»»  The  Dial.  XXXVII.   :'98. 

•""The  .Slgnlflcanct-  of  tho  Frontier  In  American  History,"  American  UiMtory 
Anociation  R.,  1893,  223  note. 


150  In/iiana  Magazine  of  Histoi-y 

Pionp:er  Life 

The  severity  of  pioneer  life,  with  its  hard  labor,  the  isola- 
tion of  families,  want  of  g-ood  roads  in  winter,  the  limited 
opportunity  for  gathering  together  of  people  at  public  enter- 
tainments and  Sunday  religious  services,  made  social  life  and 
entertainment  at  a  very  early  day,  especially  for  women  and 
children,  very  limited.  In  this  respect  the  life  of  the  settlers 
of  the  English  settlement  was  much  in  common  with  the  life 
of  the  native  pioneers  with  whom  they  mingled.  Visiting 
was  common  among  young  people  and  relatives.  For 
a  young  man  to  call  upon  a  young  lady  meant  often  for  him 
to  ride  horseback  five  or  ten  miles,  even  farther.  Saturday 
afternoons  were  generally  recognized  as  a  time  for  recrea- 
tion. At  the  neighborhood  store  of  evenings  and  particularly 
Saturday  afternoons,  the  men,  young  and  old,  gathered  in 
groups  for  sociability  and  to  barter ;  money  was  scarce  and 
most  of  the  trade,  and  purchases  as  well,  were  exchanges  of 
goods  at  market  prices. 

At  these  gatherings  stories  were  told  and  jokes  perpe- 
trated. Rifle  practice,  testing  the  best  skill  of  the  hunter,  was 
a  popular  entertainment.  When  men  or  boys  went  to  the 
store  or  visiting,  they  usually  carried  a  gun,  on  the  proba- 
bility of  seeing  a  deer  or  other  game  or  wild  animal. 

At  corn  shuckings  and  log  rollings  a  general  good  time, 
with  feasting,  dancing  and  drinking,  followed.  If  a  neighbor 
was  sick  and  unable  to  cut  his  firewood,  or  a  widow  had  no 
one  to  do  that  work  for  her,  neighbors  would  gather  with 
their  axes  and  cut  a  good  pile  of  wood  and  carry  or  haul  it 
to  the  house.  Such  an  occasion  was  generally  followed  by  a 
general  social  entertainment.  The  drinking  habit,  while 
abused  here  as  elsewhere  by  persons  who  indulged  to  excess, 
was  a  very  common  one,  and  public  opinion  was  tolerant  of 
it.  Faux  expresses  throughout  his  book  the  highest  Chris- 
tion  sentiment,  no  doubt  sincerely.  He  is  merciless  in  his 
criticisms  generally,  and  especially  of  the  poor  lodging  ac- 
commodations for  travelers  at  taverns  and  in  private  houses. 
He  occasionally  mentions  in  mitigation  of  the  many  faults 
that  good  whiskey  or  brandy  was  produced.     Mr.  Hornbrook 


Iglehart:     Cominy  of  the  English  to  hutiatm         151 

records  the  well-known  fact  that  when  on  occasions  the 
preacher  arrived  at  the  house  to  conduct  relij^ious  services 
there,  and  was  tired  and  needed  a  stimulant,  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  set  out  the  decanter  of  brandy,  which  was  welcome. 
As  a  rule,  people  drank  in  moderation.  The  Erskines  tried 
to  raise  a  log  cabin  without  free  whiskey,  but  most  reluc- 
tantly were  compelled  to  yield  the  point.  Whiskey  was  five 
cents  a  glass,  and  a  glass  full  at  the  store  was  often  divided 
up  among  a  number  of  persons.  Fifteen  or  twenty  cents 
would  buy  a  small  jug  full.  E.xcitable  or  quarrelsome  per- 
sons under  the  influence  of  whiskey  sometimes  engaged  in 
brawls. 

If  a  fight  reached  the  danger  point  in  the  matter  of  public 
peace  or  example  or  safety,  the  grand  jury  frequently  in- 
dicted one  or  both  of  the  parties,  who  had  to  plead  guilty  or 
stand  a  jury  trial  in  the  circuit  court.  The  record  of  these 
court  trials,  as  well  as  of  civil  suits,  where  the  names  of  the 
principals  involved,  as  well  as  the  names  of  by-standers  and 
witnesses,  are  endorsed  upon  the  indictment  or  found  in  the 
summons  and  subpoenas,  has  been  one  of  the  aids  in  refresh- 
ing the  memories  of  the  oldest  inhabitants,  particularly  Ed- 
ward Maidlow  and  James  Erskine,  who  have  assisted  in  re- 
storing the  faded  pictures  of  these  early  times. 

Negley's  mill  was  a  rendezvous  for  people  of  all  classes 
from  different  neighborhoods,  who  came  to  mill.  There  stood 
a  substantial  frame  steam  saw  mill  and  steam  flour,  corn 
and  grist  mill.  Nearby  the  family  lived,  in  a  substantial  and 
commodious  farm  house.  The  Negley  mill,  which  had  been 
established  and  owned  by  James  Anthony  (not  Jonathan 
Anthony,  as  the  historians  record),  was  the  best  equipped 
mill  of  its  kind  in  southwestern  Indiana  for  many  years,  and 
changed  hands  when  Negley  bought  it,  about  1819,  at  a  very 
considerable  price.  At  the  earliest  date  animal  power,  alone, 
in  a  log  hou.se,  was  used,  and  the  mill  supjilied  the  country 
for  many  miles  around.  In  a  local  history  is  given  an  inter- 
esting description  of  the  old  days  at  Negley's  mill  and  the 
social  life  and  entertainments  there,  which  continued  down 
for  a  generation.  A  trip  to  the  mill  was  often  an  excuse  for 
young  people  of  both  sexes  to  go  to  the  business  and  social 


152  liidiaiw.  Magazine  of  History 

center.  The  list  of  patrons  from  the  records  of  the  owners 
of  the  mill  includes  many  names  from  the  English  set- 
tlement."" 

In  1825  Saunders  Hornbrook,  Sr.,  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
England  that  they  were  compelled  to  manufacture  their 
clothing,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  specie,  the  women  some- 
times carding  the  cotton  and  wool,  then  spinning,  weaving 
and  fashioning  the  cloth  into  garments.  Little  time  was  left 
for  sociability,  with  the  labors  which  the  women  had  then  to 
perform,  and  this  was  substantially  the  condition  in  all  the 
families  of  the  settlement. 

In  the  Evansville  Gazette  of  June  29,  1825,  are  two  no- 
tices of  local  interest,  showing  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the 
people.  One  is  a  publication  of  a  notice  signed  by  a  com- 
mittee on  arrangements,  in  Evansville,  informing  the  public 
of  a  procession  from  the  house  of  Daniel  Chute  on  the  Fourth 
of  July,  to  march  to  the  courthouse  and  hear  the  address  of 
Dr.  William  P.  Foster;  after  which  the  procession  was  to  re- 
turn to  Mr.  Chute's  house,  where  a  dinner  was  to  be  "pre- 
pared for  those  who  were  disposed  to  partake  of  it."  Imme- 
diately following  this  notice,  of  the  same  date,  is  the  fol- 
lowing : 

rriJLIC  IHNNKli 
.V  riil)lio  Dinner  will  bo  provide*!  at  the  House  of  .*^:inuiel  Scott  in  the 
English  Settlement  to  celebrate  with  be<'ouilnR  spirit  the  gorious  inde- 
pendence of  Amfri<"!i.  We  ulve  this  i)nbli<'  notice  as  many  of  onr  neigh- 
bors comi)iained  last  year  they  liatl  not  an  oi)portunlty  of  attending,  for 
want  of  timely  information.  It  will  l)e  condiu'ted  on  the  Siime  principles 
as  that  of  last  year.  Subscriptions  will  be  recelveil  at  Samuel  Scott's. 
Tlie  dinner  will  be  on  the  table  at  one  o'cbx-k. 

R.  Carlisle. 

S.  Scott. 

.T.   Ingle. 

C  rotts. 

J.  Cawson. 

S.  Mans«-l].ii« 

This  scrap  shows  that  the  "English  Settlement"  was  well 
known  to  the  readers  of  the  paper;  that  it  aspired  equally 

^"  Elliott.  History  nf  Vandrrburgh  Countv.  98.  96. 

"•Evansville  (iazette,  June  18,  1825.  Local  news  was  so  rare  that  the  editor 
In  such  matters  u.iually  used  his  editorial  column. 


lylehart:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         153 

with  the  villapre  of  Evansville  to  recoj^mize  the  Fourth  of  July 
with  "becoming  spirit";  and  that  Samuel  Scott  and  Richard 
Carlisle,  prominent  men,  who  were  on  the  ijround  before 
Hornbrook,  the  "Father  of  the  Settlement,"  came,  and  who 
came  from  Enjjrland  by  way  of  Virginia,  were  recognized  &s 
leaders  in  the  settlement. 

In  1822  Hornbrook,  for  social  and  mutual  benefits,  called 
the  men  of  the  neighborhood  together  to  meet  at  his  house 
every  Saturday  afternoon,  when  they  had  one  or  two  papers 
on  the  subject  of  agi'iculture  or  any  other  topic  of  general 
interest,  which  were  followed  by  discussion.  He  writes  that 
"it  was  the  intention  to  hold  more  general  meetings  the  next 
year,  for  the  county,  to  a  greater  extent."  Of  course,  there 
was  no  benefit  or  sociability  for  the  women  in  these  meet- 
ings, but  there  had  "come  into  the  settlement  a  number  of 
good  respectable  English  families  within  three  miles,  which 
to  some  extent  supplied  that  need." 

Hornbrook  had  been  a  manufacturer  and  contractor  and 
business  man  of  considerable  experience  in  the  old  country 
and  as  long  as  he  lived,  engaged  in  business  and  matters  of 
general  interest  in  trade  and  manufacture  in  the  set- 
tlement. 

Describing  the  situation  of  his  family,  which  was  much 
similar  to  those  of  John  Ingle,  and  the  Maidlows,  near  neigh- 
bors, as  well  as  of  the  Wheelers,  Joseph  and  Mark,  the  Ers- 
kines,  Hillyards  and  others,  six  miles  or  farther  distant  east- 
wardly,  Hornbrook,  in  1822,  writes: 

y>>r  the  first  few  yt'.ir.s  in  our  new  Ikhik"  iiiy  f;iiiiily  hoinn  l!ir;ro  (ton 
cblldreii),  we  did  not  foci  the  hmeliiiess  wiiich  siiiiiller  f;iiiillies  exiK-rieiKinJ 
in  this  new  country,  where  one  couhl  not  .see  farther  tliiiu  ii  (jmirter  <>f  a 
mile,  l)e(-auKe  of  the  dense  woods  in  all  directions.  In  a  sliort  time  tlie 
older  ones  married  and  M'ttled  near  us.  building:  tlieir  <al»liis  and  clearing 
the  land  and  extending:  our  social  neinls. 

He  writes  his  old  English  friends: 

Our  society  here  cannot  be  st»  select  us  with  you,  hut  we  have  as  much 
sincerity  and  friendship,  hut  there  Is  no  time  for  vIsltlnK  or  idle  chit- 
chat. I'rohahly  after  a  few  y«>ars  we  may  have  some  leisure,  tliougli  there 
are  no  Kervants  to  relieve  the  women  of  labor,  tm  no  tlm«'  for  live  o'chnk 
tea  with  the  ladies,  as  In  Old  KnKland.  but  we  have  no  taxes  nu  tithe* 
— no  excise  lawH — and  |»erfiH't  fn^Hlom  of  thouf;ht  an«l  worslilp. 


151  huliana  Magazine  of  History 

The  better  element  in  the  English  settlement  depended 
much  on  each  other  for  their  social  life  and  for  aid  in  sick- 
ness and  need,  thouph  scattered  throughout  the  country  and 
in  the  new  town  of  Evansville  were  a  number  of  well-to-do 
people  among  the  better  class  of  natives  from  Kentucky, 
Pennsylvania,  ^Maryland,  New  York,  and  other  Atlantic  coast 
States.  Ten  or  twenty  miles,  even,  did  not  prevent  intimacy 
between  congenial  neighbors. 

The  Ingles,  Maidlows,  Hornbrooks,  Wheelers,  Erskines, 
Hillyards,  McJohnsons,  and  others  were  the  center  of  the 
circle  of  the  settlement,  and  were  the  nucleus  of  a  social  com- 
munity, drawing  to  it  others  more  remote,  representing  in 
the  generation  then  young,  large  families  of  men  and  women 
who  spoke  the  English  language  in  its  purity  and  preserved 
the  best  traditions  of  the  social,  intellectual  and  moral  life 
of  England. 

Faux  says  at  the  beginning  there  were  no  schools  in  the 
settlement,  and  recommends  to  the  English  teachers  a  good 
opportunity  at  a  good  salary  for  that  time.  The  first  adver- 
tisement in  the  Evansville  Gazette  of  a  teacher  for  pupils 
was  by  Andrew  Erskine,"'  in  which  he  stated  his  terms  and 
the  character  of  his  school.  He  was  an  educated  man,  and 
a  leading  citizen  in  the  county.  A  description  of  educational 
opportunities  in  the  twenties  and  the  resorts  of  ambitious 
people  to  overcome  obstacles  in  that  direction  is  later  fur- 
nished by  a  member  of  one  of  the  pioneer  families,  then  a 
youth  :'=" 

III  that  now  country.  wIut*'  tluTe  \ven»  m»  l>«»oks.  ,nnl  uewsp.ipora  were 
very  mre.  oiiportiiiilHes  for  o<1u(':itioii  wore  very  |K>or  iii(U'«Hl ;  Imt  father 
jind  mother.  esiKM-ially  the  latter,  were  anxious  for  the  pn>niotion  ami  edu- 
cation of  their  diildren.  Stiniuliited  l)y  lier  preivitt.  we  all  early  ac<mlred 
a  taste  for  hooks.  We  snbs<Tilte(l  for  wivkly  ]mi»ers  very  early,  and  sup- 
plie<l  onrs<'lves  with  what  few  s<liooI  hooks  could  l>e  obtaine<l,  and  went  to 
Hcbool.  a  few  months  each  wintiT  in  tlie  iiiiprovis4>d  rude  c.ihins.  which 
were  called  .school-houses  in  tho.so  rude  days.  But,  In  fact,  our  education 
was  ohtaine<l  more  at  home,  from  the  s<'anty  supply  of  lM>oks  we  had.  and 
from  our  ai)plication.  and  by  stimulatiug  each  other.    One  of  the  sources  of 

"•  E^•an9^■^le  Oasetle.  March  11.  1823. 

*»  Hiator]/  of  Yanderburffh  County  (B.  &  F.),  355. 


Igh'hart:     Coming  of  the  Knylish  to  Indiana         155 

education  and  Ktiinuhitiiiii  was  tlu-  early  Mi'tluHllst  |.rt>u.li«Th.  win.  found 
thflr  way  a«  wi-ll  to  tlic  wild  w«hh!s  of  \Varri<k  county,  as  fVfrywlifrf  in 
this  rountry  wliioli  Iuih  lK?f*n  rwK-biHl  liy  civilization.  Tlu*y  were  tttMicnilly 
bt'tter  wlunitttl  tiian  most  of  tin*  iKtiplc  in  the  country  then  were,  und  they 
stiniulatiHl  us  to  stH*k  for  iH'ttcr  «slufation:il  o|ii»ortunitics ;  and  though 
none  of  us  ever  went  to  colle>re  we  obtained  all  the  eiltication  which  wa« 
attainable  in  those  early  days  without  roIiik  to  college. 

Gradually  schools  were  established,  but  the  terms  were 
short :  sometimes,  not  always,  competent  teachers  were 
found ;  among  the  leaders  of  the  English  settlement,  in  the 
families  of  which  were  some  older  children  who  had  received 
some  education  in  England,  and  where  the  parents  were 
educated  people,  there  was  a  good  supply  of  English  books 
and  especial  care  was  taken  to  furnish  the  best  substitute 
in  the  home  for  schools  before  they  became  effective  else- 
where. 

As  there  had  been  no  church  built  in  this  settlement, 
various  leading  settlers,  including  Hornbrook,  Ingle,  Ers- 
kine,  the  Hillyards,  and  others,  would  invite  a  minister  whom 
any  of  them  could  get,  to  come  to  his  house  to  hold  services 
on  Sunday,  If  he  could  not  get  anyone  to  come,  as  they  were, 
other  than  the  Wheelers,  Joseph  and  Richard,  and  Parrett, 
few  and  far  between,  he  would  himself  read  a  sermon  from 
some  English  book  of  sermons,  and  the  reading  was  followed 
by  prayer  and  song  service.  There  were  at  that  early  period 
eight  or  ten  Unitarian  families  in  the  neighborhood,  who 
were  sometimes  called  Schismatics  or  Christians. 

True  to  frontier  life  west  of  the  mountains  as  it  existed 
at  the  time  of  which  we  write,  especially  religious  influences 
and  development  in  this  section,  is  the  account  of  Peter  Cart- 
wTight,'-'  a  Methodist  preacher  of  national  reputation,  in 
later  life.  He  was  a  striking  character.  He  was  without  cflu- 
cation,  but  gifted  with  natural  power  of  oratory,  of  un- 
doubted sincerity  and  piety,  with  qualities  of  leadership,  in- 
cluding the  element  of  fearless  courage,  which  a  leader  of  the 
time  required.  Humorous  incidents  are  told  of  his  policing 
his  public  religious  meetings  in  Kentucky  to  prevent  rowdies 
from  breaking  them  up.     He  had  personally,  as  a  member  of 

*^  Autobioffraphy  of  Peter  Cartxcright. 


156  Indiana  Muijazine  of  Histoi-y 

the  Green  River  district  of  the  Tennessee  conference,  estab- 
lished the  St.  Vincennes  circuit  in  1808.'--  This  circuit  in- 
cluded southwestern  Indiana. 

Rev.  John  Schrader,  the  circuit  rider,  as  early  as  1815'-'' 
traveled  that  circuit,  embracing  the  entire  Patoka  river  val- 
ley south  of  the  present  line  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  railroad, 
and  extending  from  the  Wabash  river  eastwardly  to  and  per- 
haps including  Harrison  county. 

Rev.  Joseph  Wheeler  and  Robert  Parrett  knew  Cart- 
wright  well.  In  their  training  and  education  in  England  they 
were  free  from  the  narrow  limitations  which  the  spirit  of  the 
age  in  the  frontier  west  then  imposed  upon  the  natives,  and 
upon  many  of  the  leaders  born  and  reared  among  them.  It 
seems  now  almost  like  fiction  to  read  the  serious  lament  of 
Peter  Cartwright,'-^  when  in  his  old  age,  a  unique  and  cele- 
brated character,  with  a  long  and  successful  career  behind 
him,  he  criticises  an  educated  ministry,  literary  institutions 
and  theological  institutes.     He  says: 

The  rreshyterians  and  other  Cnlvanistio  branches  of  the  Protestant 
ihnrch  use«l  to  <-onten(l  for  an  e<UK'ated  ministry,  for  pews,  for  instru- 
mental music,  for  a  con>.'r('pitioiml  or  stated  sjilaried  ministry:  the  illit- 
(•rate  Metlio«list  prea<-hers  actually  set  the  world  on  tire  (the  American 
world  at  least),  while  they  were  1i;:htinp  their  matches. 

He  condemns  the  Wesleyans  in  England  for  the  same  rea- 
sons, insisting  that  such  practices  were  a  departure  from  the 
teachings  of  John  Wesley. 

Parrett  and  the  Wheelers,  who  were  Wesleyans  in  Eng- 
land, had  none  of  this  spirit.  Neither  had  the  leaders  of  the 
settlement  any  of  the  narrow  or  bigoted  or  rowdy  spirit 
which  to  some  extent  prevailed  in  various  quarters  among 
the  natives  of  this  section. 

For  half  a  century  in  southern  Indiana  many  of  the  pio- 
neer preachers  struggled  in  a  tragic  and  losing  fight  against 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  which  has  at  last  succeeded  in  that  de- 
nomination, in  its  demand  for  an  educated  ministry.'-' 

'^  AutDhiOfjraphj/  of  prtrr  Cnrturtght    (lxr.6),   131.   141-167. 
»= //isforj/  of   Warrick  Countu   (188r>).  p.   124. 
'»*  Hiopraphu  of  I'rter  Cnrtirright,  p.  79. 

'*  For  an  Illustration  of  that  flght.  upon  the  entrance  Into  the  Infliana  Con- 
ference of  the  M.  E.  Church,  of  the  first  gra'Jvjate  of  the  first  Methodist  college  of 


Iglehart:     ComiiKj  of  the  En^jlish  to  Indiana         157 

A  thrilling  flight  of  natural  oratory  was  heard  by  the 
writer  in  an  address  by  Hayden  Hays,  an  old,  white-haired, 
superannuated  preacher  on  the  floor  of  the  Indiana  confer- 
ence nearly  fifty  years  ago,  discussing  the  transfers  of  min- 
isters from  other  conferences  into  the  best  pulpits  of  the  con- 
ference, thus  to  some  extent  shutting  out  of  those  pulpits  the 
old  leaders  who  had  heroically  spent  their  lives  in  building  up 
the  civilization  of  the  State. 

It  was  by  the  Rev.  John  Schrader,  the  circuit  rider,  that 
the  first  regular,  organized  religious  public  .services,  of  which 
local  history  has  any  record,  were  held,  in  what  is  now  kno\s'Ti 
as  Vanderburgh  county,  in  Hugh  McGary's  double  log  ware- 
house. By  him,  in  1819,  arrangement  was  made  at  that 
meeting  with  the  Wheelers  and  Parrett,  Methodist  ministers, 
who  resided  in  the  settlement,  to  preach  regularly,  in  his  ab- 
sence, in  Evansville.'-" 

John  Ingle,  of  Saundersville,  though  not  a  minister,  like 
Hornbrook,  led  services  in  his  own  house,  and  Faux  records 
his  reading  a  sermon  and  leading  in  prayer  at  service  on 
Sunday,  attended  by  sixteen  people.^'-'  Also  the  Wheelers, 
Erskines,  Hillyards,  Igleharts,  and  others  did  the  same.  The 
following  extract  is  taken  from  the  minutes  of  the  church 
board  of  Hillyard  Methodist  Episcopal  church: 

III  the  early  piirt  of  tlie  iiiuetinMitb  oeiitiiry.  whon  the  surroiimlins 
(t)imtry  w:is  beiuK  oix'iietl  up  ami  .»<ettleii  by  pioneer  settlers  from  tbe 
mother  country  and  the  east,  came  tbe  desire  to  have  .some  place  to  wor- 
ship (IikI.  according  to  their  religious  belief.  So  it  was  agn»ed  by  these 
early  pi«)neers  to  hold  their  meetings  at  the  home  of  old  F.ither  Charles 
Mi-.Iobnson.  whenever  a  preacher  might  be  passing  through  the  country. 
The  first  who  preached  there  was  Jos«>ph  Tarkingtou,'-**  who  usjtl  the 
text.  "They  shall  go  In  and  out  and  lind  pa.sture."  These  meetings  were 
held  here  otvaslonally  until  the  spring  of  1S24. 

With  the  spring  of  isi.'4  came  the  organization  of  the  so-calb"*!  Hlue 
(Irass  s<K'lety   at   tbe  home  of   Mark    Wlnvler.    who   was   for   a    time  class 

111.-  State.  Bee  Introduction  to  tli.-  Autobiogrtiphy  of  Rtv.  Joseph  Tarkitiffton  by 
Rev.  Thomaii  A.  (Joodwin.  I>.  D.  Wiillo  In  form  an  introduction.  It  Is  In  sub- 
Bt:inc<-  an  autobloKTuphy  of  Dr.  Goodwin.  «upi>lem<'ntln(f  that  of  Mr.  Turklnifton. 
with  moBt  Intt-rt-BtlnK  and  amusing  descriptions  of  ploneor  times  and  jMoplt-  In 
•outhem  Indiana. 

^Hutory  uf   Vanderbtirph  County   ( B.  &   P.).   278. 

'"Thwaltes.  Karly   Weateru  Truvela.  XI.  239.  285. 

'*  S«e  note  60. 


158  In<iiana  Magazine  of  Histoi-y 

leader  and  at  whoso  home  the  inet'tliiKs  of  the  ehiss  aixl  iirea<-hinK  services 
were  held.  At  this  time  the  territory  was  In  the  Illinois  conference.  Wa- 
bash district.  I'aloka  circuit.  This  dnuit  had  thirty-two  aii|K>lntnu'nts 
and  was  serve«I  hy  two  preaihers  Ihin;;  at  rriiiceton.  lOach  made  a  round 
everj-  four  weeks.  The  class  niet>tinKs  in  those  days  were  held  Invariably 
after  i>reaclilnp  s*»rvices. 

In  isiM",  three  years  after  the  organization,  the  mef'tin;:  place  of  the 
f^H-iety  was  transferre<l  to  the  home  of  William  Ilillyard.  .^r..  and  con- 
tinue<l  at  this  i>lace  until  the  year  \s:U.  when  the  society  built  a  hewed 
log  house  1N>  X  1.'4  feet  anil  coveretl  it  with  clapboards.  The  first  seats 
were  nunid  |>oles.  after  a  thne  theH>  were  replacnl  with  improved  seats 
m.ide  by  .sjilittin;:  small  logs  in  the  center,  shaving  off  the  splinters  with  a 
drawing  knife,  boring  boles  in  the  bark  side,  inst^rting  shari)en«nl  jiUves  of 
timbers  into  these  holes.  These  seats  were  known  as  l)enches.  This  church 
had  five  windows,  two  on  each  side,  and  one  behind  the  pulpit.  This  building 
stood  on  a  rise  of  grouixl  near  the  cemetery.  The  .society  ci»ntinu(Ml  to 
worship  in  Ibis  inde  structure  until  IS.M.  when  the  set-ond  house,  which  Is 
still  usoil.  was  built  on  ground  one-half  mile  south  of  the  cemetery. 

The  first  class  leader  was  M.-irk  Wheeler.  There  were  eighteen  per- 
sons belonging  to  this  <las.s.  Orher  cl.iss  leaders,  who  h.id  done  estimable 
service,  were  .Tosepli  Harrison.  Alexander  Hillyard.  Sr..  William  Crisp, 
Henry  Harrison  and  Thon)as  Hillyard. 

From  the  best  Information  that  can  be  gained,  the  first  Sunday  School 
was  organi/.e<1  in  is;{.s  in  the  ohl  log  cliunb.  There  were  twenty  niendiers 
Itelonging  to  this  s.-hool.  Alexan«ler  llillyanl.  Sr..  was  the  first  superin- 
tendent. Tlie  Smiday  School  in  those  days  memorized  a  great  amount  of 
Scripture. 

The  McJohnson  ^lethodist  Episcopal  chapel  was  located 
at  McCutchanville,  about  three  miles  south  of  Hillyard 
church,  at  an  early  date,  and  these  two  churches  have  for 
many  years  sustained  a  stationed  minister  in  a  church  par- 
sonage located  at  McCutchanville.  A  Methodi.st  church  was 
erected  near  Saundersville  at  a  point  where  the  church  ceme- 
tery now  known  as  the  Inple  cemetery  is  located,  but  the 
church  building  was  later  removed. 

The  Episcopalians  had  a  church  in  the  settlement,  and  as 
late  as  1850  one  was  known  as  Faux's  chapel.  Whether 
named  in  honor  of  William  Faux,  the  early  historian  of  the 
settlement,  or  one  of  his  de.scendants,  history  does  not  state. 
It  has  di.'^appeared. 

There  were  among  the  various  settlers  representatives  of 
many  religious  denominations.  The  Established  church  of 
England  had  a  good  representation.     Whatever  the  former 


Iglehaii:     Coming  of  the  English  to  Indiana         159 

religious  attlliations  of  the  settlers  had  been  in  the  old  coun- 
try, Wesleyanism,  through  the  Hillyards,  McJohnsons, 
Wheelers,  Parretts,  Erskinos,  and  other  members  of  the  settle- 
ment, as  well  as  the  circuit  rider,  who  passed  throu^^h  the  set- 
tlement at  stated  periods,  firmly  established  Methodism  in  the 
beginning  of  Vanderburgh  county's  existence.  For  years  that 
church  very  largely  pre-empted  the  soil  and  the  people  with 
it,  in  the  north  half  of  the  county.  The  burial  ground  at 
McCutchanville  church,  one  at  Hillyard  church,  one  near 
Saundersville,  now  known  as  the  Ingle  cemetery,  the  Episco- 
pal cemetery,  and  the  Camp  Ground  cemetery,  e.stablished 
later  than  the  others,  ranked  in  the  above  order,  first  of  the 
earliest  cemeteries  in  the  county  in  the  number  of  graves  of 
the  pioneers  of  the  first  decade  of  the  settlement  of  the  county. 

Among  the  incidents  preserved  which  show  the  close 
touch  of  some  of  the  immigrants  with  John  Wesley  during 
his  ministry  in  England  and  Ireland  are  the  following: 
Elizabeth  Wheeler  (1781-1870),  wife  of  Rev.  Joseph  Wheeler, 
was  born  at  Witney,  Oxfordshire,  England,  daughter  of  John 
and  Elizabeth  Early,  of  Witney.  John  Wesley  was  a  regular 
visitor  at  her  mother's  home  in  Witney.  When  but  a  small 
child,  she  sat  on  Mr.  Wesley's  knee  and  recited  one  of  the 
longest  psalms.  Elizabeth  Hillyard  (1760-1845),  widow  of 
John  Hillyard,  of  Longford,  Ireland,  was  left  by  her  husband 
at  his  death  a  retail  store  in  Longford,  which  she  continued 
for  some  years.  When  the  youngest  of  her  four  sons,  James, 
William,  John  and  Alexander,  was  about  grown,  she  came  in 
1818  with  them  to  America  and  this  was  the  original  Hill- 
yard family  of  the  Blue  Grass  neighborhood.  Her  husband, 
John  Hillyard,  was  one  of  the  first  Wesleyan  class  leaders  in 
Longford.  Both  she  and  her  husband  knew  John  Wesley. 
On  one  occasion  as  a  girl  she  wore  to  church  a  bow  of  bright 
ribbon  on  her  bonnet,  and  Mr.  Wesley  remarked,  "It  is  a  bow 
upon  Bessie?"  This  was  understood  by  all  to  be  a  reproof 
to  the  young  lady  for  undue  gaiety  in  dress. 

Reference  is  el.sewhere  made  to  Rev.  Joseph  Wheeler  and 
Rev.  Robert  Parrett,  two  men  cast  in  the  same  mold,  whose 
influence  for  good  in  the  new  settlement  and  for  a  much  wider 
territory,  was  very  great.     Their  influence  upon  the  young 


ino  Indiatia  Magazine  of  History 

men  of  the  settlement  was  very  marked.  To  their  influence, 
especially  the  former,  in  a  threat  degree  may  be  traced  the 
education  of  a  number  of  young  men  in  the  families  men- 
tioned, to  the  ministry.  Among  these  native  ministers  were 
James  and  William  Ingle,  sons,  and  John  Cowle,  nephew,  of 
John  Ingle,  of  Saundersville,  and  William  and  Henry 
Wheeler,  sons  of  Mark  Wheeler;  James,  son  of  John  Hillyard, 
and  Thomas  Walker  and  John  Harrison.  John  W.  Parrett, 
eldest  son  of  Rev.  Robert  Parrett,  was  an  active  minister. 
All  of  these  were  Methodists  except  Thomas  Walker,  who  was 
resident  pastor  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  at 
Owcnsville,  Indiana,  for  a  generation.  So  that  before  these 
older  ministers  had  passed  their  vigor,  there  arose  among 
these  families  a  native  ministry,  the  earliest  in  that  section. 
Some  of  them  remained  in  the  settlement,  rendering  good 
service  to  the  community  in  furnishing  public  service  at  a 
time  when  it  was  much  needed.  Some  of  them  dedicated  their 
lives  wholly  to  the  ministry  and  passed  out  into  the  wider 
world.    None  of  them  are  now  living. 

Economic  Conditions 

One  of  the  criticisms  made  against  emigration  to  this 
immediate  section  was  that  the  country  was  wet,  undrained, 
malarial  and  subject  to  fevers.  The  picture  by  Faux  of 
Evansville,  at  the  time  he  visited  it  in  November,  1819,  is  an 
unfavorable  one.    On  that  subject  he  says:'-'-' 

VIsltetl  Kvnnsvllle  ou  the  bliiflfs  of  the  Ohio.  lU-hiiul  it  is  an  almost 
Im|ias.><4ible  road  throuub  a  sickly  swamp,  none  of  which  uear  the  road  Is 
yet  cnltivat«Ml.  It  s<H'ms  t<Kj  wet.  Here  I  met  a  few  Kn^llsh  me<-liauic-s 
re>;rctliii.c  tiiey  had  left  Kn^laiid.  where  tliey  tliink  tliey  coui<l  do  l)etter. 

The  Evansville  Gazette^'-'"  contains  an  editorial  statement 
on  the  subject  of  the  health  of  Evansville,  to  the  effect  that 
it  was  "tolerably  healthful."  Between  the  lines  may  be  seen 
that  the  writer  felt  that  there  had  perhaps  been  some  foun- 
dation at  least,  at  some  time,  for  the  charge  of  unhealthy 
location. 

»»Thwalt08.  Early   Western   Travets,  I.  292. 
»»•  Issue  of  Sopt.  9.  1824. 


Igh'hart:     Coming  of  the  Englii^h  to  Indiana         161 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the  "Salt  Wells,"  on 
Pigeon  creek  near  Evansville,  the  Gazette  issued  an  editorial 
prospectus  of  the  town,  claiming  almost  perfect  health 
in  it.'^'i 

But  Evansville  itself,  located  about  half  a  mile  east  of 
the  mouth  of  Pigeon  creek,  lay  on  very  high  ground,  and 
above  the  highest  water,  even  up  to  the  present  time ;  but  on 
all  three  sides  away  from  the  river,  the  ground  retreated  until 
it  was  low,  and  at  the  time  mentioned,  it  was  entirely  un- 
drained.  The  same  may  be  said  of  what  is  now  Knight  town- 
ship on  the  east,  as  well  as  Union  and  Perry  townships  on  the 
west  and  south.  These  lowlands,  which  have  since  become 
drained  and  are  healthy  for  residence  probably  as  much  as 
the  higher  ground,  were  at  the  time  standing  in  water  much 
of  the  year. 

Naturally  the  most  inviting  location  for  a  settler,  health 
considered,  was  the  high  ground  beginning  on  what  was 
afterwards  the  state  road,  which  started  in  Evansville,  ex- 
tended northwardly  across  Pigeon  creek  near  Anthony  or 
Negley's  mill,  to  Princeton  and  Vincennes.  Fron  Pigeon 
creek,  near  the  present  northern  boundary  of  Evansville, 
north  for  the  whole  distance  to  the  north  line  of  the  settle- 
ment, the  ground  was  well  drained  and  rolling,  and  the  view 
was  picturesque,  especially  the  backbone  of  hills  occupied  by 
Mechanicsville  (Stringtown),  near  the  southern  line  of  the 
settlement.  This  was  at  the  beginning  occupied  by  early 
settlers,  some  of  English  birth,  including  the  Walkers,  some 
of  English  ancestry,  all  with  English  sympathies,  which 
united  them  in  many  ways  with  members  of  the  settlement 
itself. 

The  tracts  selected  by  the  Hornbrooks,  Maidlows  and 
Ingle  were  located  close  together,  and  a  great  majority  of 
the  fifty-six  families  mentioned  by  Faux  in  his  book  written 
in  November,  1819,  were  located  so  closely  to  the  land  so  se- 
lected that  the  settlement  was  very  compact.  There  were, 
however,  at  the  same  time  and  immediately  afterwards  other 
settlers  properly  included  within  the  colony  who  settled  over 

>«  E\an«\ille  Gatette,  Aug.  27,  1823. 


1G2  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

i\w  line  in  Gibson  county  on  the  north,  Posey  on  the  west,  and 
Warrick  on  the  east,  all,  however,  within  a  radius  of  ten  or 
fifteen  miles,  most  of  it  much  nearer. 

In  Aujrust.  1819,  three  months  before  Faux's  visit  to  John 
Tnple,  Richard  Flower  wrote  a  letter'-'-  from  the  Illinois  set- 
tlement, jriving  some  definite  idea  of  its  extent  and  numbers, 
in  which  he  says: 

On  ;i  inut  of  liiiul  troiii  tlu>  i.ittit'  Wiilmsli  to  tlit>  Hoiip.-is  on  the 
Grent  W;ib;isb.  iibout  sovoiite<»ii  iiiilrs  in  wUltli.  nntl  four  to  six  from  north 
to  st»uth.  there  were  but  .1  few  IniuttTs'  r.ibins.  :i  ye.ir  .•iiul  a  hiilf  Hlnce.  and 
now  there  Jire  }ilM)ut  sixty  Kujilish  fliiuilies.  rontainiutf  nearly  four  hun- 
(lre<l  sotils;  and  one  humlred  ami  tifty  Auieriiaii.  containing:  about  s<'ven 
hundred  souls,  who  like  the  English  for  their  neighbors,  and  manjr  of 
whom  are  good  neighbours  to  ua 

The  central  part  of  the  English  and  Irish  location,  some  six 
miles  east  of  Saundersville,  included  the  Wheelers,  Hillyards, 
Erskines  and  McJohnsons,  who  settled  there  early.  The  Hill- 
yards  and  McJohnsons  were  there  before  Faux  arrived.  The 
Erskines  arrived  at  Evansville  by  an  ark  Christmas  day, 
1819,  just  as  Faux  was  preparing  to  leave  the  country.  Faux 
did  not  meet  any  of  these  persons,  and  his  observations  are 
confined  substantially  to  those  persons  whom  he  met  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  John  Ingle's  residence,  and  in 
Evansville,  where  he  visited  a  short  time.  He  speaks,  how- 
ever, of  the  people  in  the  settlement  as  the  "British, "'•''•'  thus 
recognizing  what  was  the  fact,  that  the  settlement  properly 
embraced  not  only  the  English,  but  the  Irish  and  a  few 
Scotch,  who  came  about  the  same  time,  and  were  for  all  pra«- 
tical  purposes  one  with  the  English. 

The  soil  upon  which  the  central  settlement  was  made  was 
not  of  the  best.  In  fact,  the  timber  upon  it  would  have  indi- 
cated that  fact  to  a  farmer  familiar  with  judging  soil  cov- 
ered with  timber.  This  criticism  was  made  by  Judge  Mc- 
Creary,  as.sociate  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  to  Mr.  Faux,  who 
quotes  him  in  a  talk  he  had  with  Hornbrook  himself,  which, 
the  judge  said,  Hornbrook  did  not  relish. 

The  location  of  the  Indiana  settlement,  with  Saundersville 

">  Spark.o.   Enplish  Settlement  in  the  Illinois,  letter  2.  p.  24. 
•"Thwaltts.   Early    Wr.tlrrn    Travrl.i.  XI.   '.'9." 


Iglehart:     Cominu  of  the  English  to  Indiana         163 

as  its  center,  shows  that  the  ^reat  body  of  the  settlement  oc- 
cupied less  space  than  that  given  by  Richard  Flower  for  the 
Illinois  settlement.  The  great  body  of  the  settlers  were  in  a 
circle  of  not  over  one-half  the  radius  of  the  larger  circle  de- 
scribed. Its  borders  were  e.xtended  so  as  to  include  the  Par- 
rett  location  across  the  county  line  in  Posey  county  on  the 
west,  and  the  extension  into  Campbell  township,  Warrick 
county  on  the  east,  and  to  Warrenton,  in  Gibson  county,  on 
the  north,  and  to  include  Mechanicsville  on  the  south  as  far 
as  Negley's  mill,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  and  ridge  on  which 
Mechanicsville  is  located  and  where  the  extreme  southern 
boundary  of  the  settlement  terminated.  Here  the  Walkers 
and  others  lived. 

The  Kentucky  backwoodsmen  were  inclined  by  preference 
to  select  the  lower  lands  in  what  is  now  Knight  township  and 
Union  township,  which  at  the  present  time  are  the  finest 
agricultural  lands  in  the  county.  The  same  preference  was 
given  by  the  same  class  of  farmers  to  the  lands  in  Gibson 
county  and  Posey  county,  much  of  which  is  the  finest  agricul- 
tural soil  in  this  section,  and  one  of  the  finest  agricultural 
sections  in  the  central  west. 

Cobbett'-'*  describes  the  land  of  the  New  Harmony  settle- 
ment in  Posey  county  as  being  as  rich  as  a  dung  hill.  One  ex- 
ception to  the  other  Englishmen  in  selecting  the  location  for 
the  settlement  was  Robert  Parrett,  who  came  about  the  same 
time  as  the  other  leaders  mentioned,  but  who  stopped  a  year 
or  two  in  New  Jersey  before  coming  to  Indiana.  He  settled 
at  or  near  what  is  now  Blairsville,  in  Posey  county,  in  1819, 
and  about  ten  miles  distant  from  Saundersville,  where  the 
soil  was  of  a  superior  character.  Here  he  remained  some  five 
or  six  years  and  here  some  of  his  children,  including  the  late 
William  F.  Parrett,  circuit  judge  and  member  of  congress, 
were  born.  In  1825  he  moved  with  his  family  to  his  location 
of  the  Parrett  home.stead,  embracing  a  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land,  then  adjoining  Evansville  on  the  south  and 
southeast,  which  is  now  a  solidly  built  up  portion  of  the  city, 
including  one  of  the  finest  residence  streets.    Much  of  this  he 

•**  l^lndly,  Indiana  as  nem  fci/  Early  Trnx'eters,  514. 


164  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

retained  till  his  death,  leaving  to  his  children  a  large  estate, 
in  the  land  alone. 

The  English  settlement  had  no  definite  limits,  but  extended 
as  its  settlers  moved  around,  and  from  the  beginning  its  mem- 
bers drifted  towards  Evansville,  along  the  high  and  rolling 
ground  in  the  general  neighborhood  of  the  state  road,  located 
previous  to  1819. 

When  the  state  road  in  Vanderburgh  county  was  im- 
proved, the  stations,  of  two  miles  in  length  each,  embraced 
in  separate  descriptions  for  clearing  timber  and  road  build- 
ing, were  identified  in  their  termini  by  stakes  in  the  fields 
of  the  English  settlers  from  Pigeon  creek  to  the  Gibson 
county  line.i^'' 

The  road  back  of  Evansville  to  Pigeon  creek  was,  in  1819, 
when  Faux  described  it,  low  and  swampy,  or  at  least  un- 
drained  of  standing  water,  and  much  of  the  land  through 
which  it  ran  was  untenable  for  healthy  residence.  So,  in- 
deed, was  much  of  the  best  land  in  the  county.  The  de- 
scription by  early  travelers,  including*  Fearon,  Faux  and 
others,  lays  great  stress  upon  the  matter  of  health  and  the 
neighborhood  of  extensive  undrained  lands,  which  properly 
disqualified  it  for  residence  of  men  and  their  families,  who 
were  entering  a  new  life  of  supreme  hardships.  In  this  fact, 
greater  than  any  other,  may  be  found  the  explanation  why 
the  Hornbrooks,  Ingle,  Maidlows,  Scott,  Kennerly,  Hillyards, 
Wheelers,  Erskines  and  later  comers,  settled  land  not  of  the 
best  soil.  It  compares  unfavorably  with  the  land  lying  lower, 
especially  now  when  all  of  it  is  drained  and  in  cultivation. 

Faux  visited  Evansville  for  a  day  in  November,  1819, 
meeting  several  of  the  prominent  citizens  who  called  upon 
him.  As  already  mentioned,  he  says  Judge  McCreary  com- 
plained greatly  of  the  choice  of  land  made  by  the  British  here. 
He  wonders  they  could  not  better  inform  themselves,  because 
when  they  came  there  was  plenty  of  good  land  to  be  had  and 
if  not  in  bodies,  yet  in  sections  and  in  half  sections.  "The 
soil,"  he  said,  "is  as  thin  as  a  clap-board  or  bear-skin.  I 
would  not  give  one  of  my  quarter  sections  for  all  of  the  neigh- 

»»  E\-anrvme  Oasette,  July  13.  1822,  Advt.  for  proposals. 


Iglehart:     Cominy  of  the  English  tu  Indiana         165 

borhood  of  the  barrens."  (The  term  "barrens,"  as  then  used, 
did  not  apply  to  arid  soil,  but  rather  to  land  which  was  not 
covered  by  tall  timber.)  "They  must  have  been  deceived  by 
speculators,  but  all  the  English  must  herd  together."'^" 

In  this  Judge  McCreary  was  wrong.  As  stated,  the  orig- 
inal location  was  made  in  this  section  by  Saunders  Horn- 
brook,  Jr.,  who  came  into  the  wilderness  alone,  and  made  his 
selection,  probably  without  much  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  as  he  had  not  been  a  farmer  in  the  old  country. 

It  is  true  that  Samuel  Scott  lived  in  this  neighborhood 
before  Hornbrook  came.  At  Scott's  house  were  held  all  the 
elections  in  that  township,  during  his  life,  and  they  continued 
to  be  held  there  at  the  house  of  his  widow,  after  his  death, 
about  1825  or  182G. 

Carlisle  and  Kennerly  were  on  the  ground,  Kennerly  at 
the  north  end  of  Mechanicsville,  Carlisle  farther  north, 
toward  the  settlement,  as  afterwards  located,  and  while  he 
does  not  refer  to  the  fact,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Saunders 
Hornbrook,  Jr.,  was  influenced  in  some  degree  by  these  men, 
who  were  rugged,  intelligent  Englishmen,  and  as  stated  else- 
where, afterwards  became  part  of  the  settlement. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Saundersville  settle- 
ment was  not  located  in  the  most  fertile  section,  and  that 
health  of  the  location  had  much  to  do  with  its  selection,  a 
hundred  years  of  cultivation  and  good  farming  have  made 
the  original  location  of  the  English  settlement  a  location  of 
good  farms  at  the  present  time. 

The  first  high  ground  north  of  Evansville  on  the  line  of 
travel  to  Princeton  and  Vincennes  begins  across  Pigeon 
creek ;  here  it  rises  abruptly  so  high  and  steep  that  the  road 
from  Pigeon  creek  near  Negley's  mill  up  to  Mechanicsville  at 
the  top  of  the  hill  was  over  one-half  mile  long  and  .so  steep  the 
entire  distance  that  in  the  old  time  of  dirt  roads,  it  was  an 
object  of  much  solicitude  to  travelers.  Northwardly  extends 
the  backbone  of  the  ridge,  furnishing  a  beautiful  view  of  the 
hills  and  valleys  for  many  miles,  and  on  this  ridge  was  lo- 
cated Mechanicsville,  over  a  mile  in  length.    Along  this  high 

•"Thwaltes,  Early  Western  Travels,  XI,   1:95. 


166  Imluuia  Mauazinc  of  History 

ground  the  state  road,  after  it  was  located,  was  changed  to  go 
through  the  Saundersville  settlement,  forking  at  the  north 
end  of  Mechanicsville  easterly  in  the  Petersburg  road.  This 
road  went  through  the  McCutchanville,  Earles,  Hillyard 
church  and  the  Wheeler  settlements,  where,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  state  road,  the  English  and  Irish  settlers  had  blazed  the 
way. 

From  the  beginning,  contemporaneously  with  the  settle- 
ment of  Evansville  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Saundersville, 
McCutchanville  and  Hillyard  settlements  on  the  other,  on  ac- 
count of  its  superior  location  for  health,  its  proximity  to  the 
perennial  Pigeon  creek,  and  its  nearness  to  the  Ohio  river, 
and  itself  lying  on  the  direct  road  to  Princeton  and  Vincennes 
from  the  river,  Mechanicsville  was  an  important  center  of 
activity  and  population.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  a  connecting 
link  between  Evansville  and  the  English  settlement. 

Here  was  one  of  the  first  meeting-houses  for  religious  and 
educational  uses  built  in  the  county  (1832).  It  is  still  stand- 
ing and  in  use,  as  the  village  church,  in  excellent  condition, 
though  eighty-seven  years  old,  and  now  the  oldest  church 
building  in  the  county. 

At  the  south  end  and  part  of  Mechanicsville,  opposite 
Negley's  mill,  was  a  small  village  which  has  wholly  disap- 
peared.'•'" 

Mechanicsville  was  a  competitor  with  Evansville  for  the 
county  seat  of  Vanderburgh  county  in  1818.  It  is  stated  that 
in  the  30's,  the  citizens  of  Evansville  had  to  go  to  Mechanics- 
ville for  first  class  blacksmithing  and  wagon-making.  Here, 
in  the  early  30's,  John  Ingle,  Jr.,  learned  his  trade  as  a  cab- 
inet-maker. Here  later  settled  Dr.  Lindley,  one  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  county,  also  the  Whittlesey  family,  long  promi- 
nent citizens  of  the  county,  as  well  as  of  the  city  of  Evans- 
ville :  still  later  the  McGhees,  Olmsteads,  Woods  and  others. 
Mechanicsville  has  always  been  and  still  is  a  well-.settled 
community,  and  today  is  thickly  settled  with  well-built 
houses,  and  in  addition,  on  account  of  its  superb  location,  has 
become  a  popular  place  of  suburban  residences  of  Evansville 
people. 

'«  Elliott.  History  of  randerbtirgh  Count}/,  94. 


IgU'hart:     Comituj  of  the  Kiiglish  to  Indiana         167 

The  subject  of  water  was  then  of  ^^reat  importance  to  a 
settler  seeking  a  farm  location.  A  running  stream  upon  the 
land  was  regarded  as  of  threat  value.  The  elder  Hornbrook 
calls  attention  to  this  advantajre  of  the  location  of  the  settle- 
ment, in  one  of  his  letters.  Faux's  description  of  the  dilliculty 
of  some  of  the  farmers  in  getting  water  for  their  families 
and  stock  is  both  amusing  and  tragic' '"^  George  Flower's 
history  of  the  Prairie  settlement  in  Illinois,  mentions  the  fact 
of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  water  at  one  time,  when  repre- 
sentatives of  much  of  the  village  stood  in  line  with  buckets 
for  two  hours  at  night,  being  supplied  from  a  well  which  he 
had  dug.'^i* 

The  extreme  eastern  line  of  the  settlement  was  from  Pigeon 
creek,  a  point  selected  by  the  elder  Igleheart  and  others  in- 
cluding the  Lockyears  as  a  water  supply.  This  creek  runs 
north  through  Campbell  township  in  Warrick  county,  some 
fifteen  miles  east  of  Saundersville ;  so  that  he  was  on  the  east- 
ern edge  of  the  settlement  around  which,  however,  a  dozen 
English  families,  including  the  Lockyears,  then  and  later 
settled.  All  of  his  three  sons,  and  two  of  his  four  daughters 
married  members  of  the  British  settlement.  Christopher 
Lockyear,  a  brother-in-law  of  the  senior  Maidlow,  came  over 
with  him  in  1818.  In  1918,  at  a  reunion  of  his  descendants  in 
Evansville,  one  hundred  of  them  were  present. 

Pigeon  creek,  as  the  source  of  unfailing  water  supply,  was 
at  the  beginning  regarded  as  one  of  great  importance.  Saun- 
ders Hornbrook,  Sr.,  in  the  letter  referred  to,  speaks  of  the 
landing  of  his  son  at  Pigeon  creek,  rather  than  at  Evansville. 
A  number  of  the  travelers,  in  referring  to  the  location,  give 
importance  to  the  existence  of  Pigeon  creek  as  a  well-knowTi 
stream  of  water.  As  late  as  1835  it  is  said  the  most  serious 
inconvenience  that  people  of  Evans\nlle  suffered  was  the 
want  of  good  water,  and  that  the  Ohio  river  water  was  all 
that  could  be  obtained  till  that  time.  The  first  cistern  was 
then  built  by  Ira  French,  who  had  bought  the  patent  right 
to  build  cisterns  in  Vanderburgh  county.*-"' 

•■ThwaltfB.  Harly  Wtatern  Travels,  XI.  266. 

»*•  George  V.   Flower,  History  of  Kdwiirda  County.  III.,  131. 

•*•  Rlley,    History  of   Walnut   Street   Church.   Evanaville.   26. 


168  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

An  examination  of  the  records  of  the  county  commission- 
ers of  Vanderburgh  county,  which  had  jurisdiction  in  the  es- 
tablishment, maintenance  and  repair  of  roads,  shows  very 
clearly  that  there  was  universal  interest  among  the  first  set- 
tlers in  the  establishment  of  roads  in  this  part  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Roads,  when  established,  were  for  a  long  period  not 
much  more  than  blazed  trails,  and  the  best  that  could  be  done 
in  the  way  of  laying  out  and  improving  a  road  was  cutting 
off  the  heavy  timber,  which  usually  left  stumps  around  which 
the  road  was  compelled  to  run.  So  long  as  the  adjoining 
forest  was  uncleared,  good  drainage  was  impossible,  and  it 
was  many  years  before  good  wagon  or  carriage  roads  were 
established. 

The  cost  of  hauling  was  so  great  as  to  be  prohibitive  of 
transportation  of  heavy  material.  Faux  says  that  fifty  cents 
was  the  usual  price  of  carriage  for  one  hundred  pounds  of 
corn  for  over  twenty  miles,  sometimes  higher,  never  lower. 
One  bushel  of  corn  weighed  from  fifty  to  fifty-six  pounds,  so 
that  if  it  was  hauled  by  weight,  it  would  not  pay  the  carriage 
for  twenty  miles.  He  says  that  Ferrel,  a  man  of  experience 
and  discernment,  stated  that  he  would  not  fetch  corn  from 
Princeton,  twenty  miles  off,  as  a  gift,  if  he  could  grow  it,  nor 
would  he  carr\'  it  to  the  Ohio  for  sale,  because  it  would  not 
pay  carriage  and  expenses.  When,  if  ever,  they  will  have 
surplus  produce,  he  will  give  it  to  the  pigs  and  cattle,  which 
will  walk  to  market. ^^'     Again  he  says: 

Yesterday  a  settler  passed  our  door  (In;;Io's)  with  a  bushel  of  com- 
inoal  on  his  hack,  for  \vhl<'h  ho  had  travele<l  twenty  miles  on  foot  to  the 
nearest  horse-mill,  and  carried  it  ten  ndles.  paying  .seventy-tive  cents  for  It. 

Almost  the  first  acts  of  organized  government  of  Vander- 
burgh county  were  the  receiving  of  petitions  for  the  opening 
of  public  roads,  appointing  viewers  to  pass  upon  the  question 
of  public  utility,  and  to  investigate  and  lay  them  out,  and 
making  orders  establishing  roads.  After  a  road  was  estab- 
lished in  the  country  districts,  the  question  of  its  mainte- 
nance became  important ;  a  road  supervisor  was  appointed 
and  assigned  to  a  specified  portion  or  length  of  road.     Some- 

"' ThwRlte*.   Early  WfBtrrn   Travrl.t,  XI.   291. 


Igh'haH:     Cominy  of  the  English  to  Indiami         169 

times  one  road  in  the  county,  of  lenj?th,  would  be  embraced 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  several  supervisors.  To  the  super- 
visor was  assigned  the  inhabitants  sometimes  by  name,  some- 
times by  a  general  description  of  locality,  living  within  the 
territory  of  his  district,  near  the  particular  highway  which 
they,  by  law,  were  required  to  work.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
supervisor  to  call  upon  all  the  able-bodied  inhabitants  to  work 
the  roads,  and,  in  case  of  their  failure  to  do  so,  to  collect  from 
them  sufficient  cash  to  hire  a  substitute. 

So  great  was  the  interest  of  everyone  in  the  proper  mainte- 
nance of  these  highways  of  travel,  that  the  leading  citizens 
of  the  county,  without  exception,  were  willing  to  accept  the 
appointment  of  road  supervisor.  This  was  true  of  all  of  the 
leading  men  named.  This  was  in  some  respects  the  most  im- 
portant public  position  and  nearest  to  the  real  interests  of  the 
community,  although  the  pay  was  trifling.  The  proportion  of 
county  busine.ss  embraced  within  this  routine  of  work  was 
so  great  for  the  first  ten  years  as  to  indicate  that  it  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  the  people  and  to  the  county  commis- 
sioners, who  had  charge  of  it.  There  is  no  more  reliable 
record  of  the  names  of  citizens  in  particular  localities,  at  a 
particular  time,  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  enumeration  of 
inhabitants  for  working  roads  in  the  particular  road  districts. 

More  voluminous,  however,  were  the  "Estray  notices." 
The  stock  law  was  severe  to  protect  stock  from  thieves.  When 
a  settler  took  up  a  horse,  cow  or  hog,  the  law  required  him 
to  go  before  the  nearest  justice  with  two  neighbors  and 
make  an  appraisement  and  give  notice  before  the  justice,  who 
transmitted  the  paper,  usually  a  single  small  sheet,  to  the 
clerk's  office. 

In  preparing  the  list  of  English  families  in  this  settle- 
ment at  fixed  dates,  this  mass  of  contemporary  record,  each 
paper  containing  four  names,  with  the  date  and  the  township 
located,  enabled  the  writer,  with  his  own  knowledge  and  the 
aid  of  James  Maidlow  and  James  Erskine,  to  make  out,  with 
other  aids,  a  sub.stantially  correct  record. 

The  relative  importance  of  the  English  .settlement  to  other 
parts  of  the  county  during  its  first  decade  may  in  .some  meas- 
ure be  estimated  by  the  amount  of  time  and  records  devoted 


170  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

by  the  county  commissioners  to  the  roads  of  that  portion  of 
the  county,  as  compared  to  other  portions.  Upon  such  a  com- 
parison it  appears  that  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  in 
which  this  settlement  was  located,  was  much  farther  ad- 
vanced in  the  opening,  existence  and  improvements  of  high- 
ways than  the  other  parts  of  the  county.  That  part  of  the 
county  was  more  thickly  settled  than  was  the  southern  part. 
Saundersvillc  was  located  in  a  central  part  of  the  settlement. 
It  is  described  as  *'a  nourishing  post  town  in  Vanderburgh 
county  in  1826.'^'-  In  1833  the  same  authority  described  it 
as  **a  small  post  village  in  Vanderburgh  county  ten  miles 
north  of  Evansville."  Soon  afterwards  it  ceased  to  exist. 
It  had,  in  the  early  twenties,  among  other  interests,  several 
stores,  a  mill,  a  warehouse  and  a  number  of  houses  occupied 
as  residences.  There  is  now  no  trace  of  it  to  be  seen  in  the 
cultivated  field  where  its  location  was  formerly,  and  the  exact 
spot  of  its  location  cannot  be  pointed  out  by  any  one.  The 
recorded  plat  of  the  "town"  unfortunately  contains  no  refer- 
ence to  the  section  or  part  of  section  or  other  description,  on 
which  the  town  was  located. 

The  road  records  of  the  county  show  that  August  9,  1819, 
the  State  Road  or  Evansville  and  Princeton  road  was  changed 
to  run  "through  the  Main  Street  of  Saundersville,"  and  this 
very  definite  north  and  .south  line  of  the  landmark  remains 
still  the  same.  The  New  Harmony  and  Boonville  road,  built 
in  1820  and  1821,  was  ordered  in  two  sections,  one  from 
"Man.sell's  mill,  Saundersville,"  to  the  Warrick  county  line, 
to  meet  the  proposed  road  to  Boonville  through  Warrick 
county,  one  from  "the  town  of  Saundersville  to  New  Har- 
mony, to  strike  the  Posey  county  line,"  etc.,  at  a  point,  etc. 
If  the  road  from  Boonville  to  New  Harmony  has  not  been 
changed,  then  the  east  and  west  landmark  is  also  fixed,  lo- 
cating Saundersville  in  the  .south  part  of  Section  8.  It  is  not 
impossible  that  the  variation  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  more  or 
less,  might  in  those  times  have  been  regarded  as  of  little  im- 
portance in  descriptions.  In  fact,  roads  were  not  usually  sur- 
veyed, but  located  by  the  judgment  of  road  viewers  who 
chose  the  "best  route"  between  the  termini. 

•♦^  Scott.  The  Indiana  Gazeteer,  103. 


Iglehart:     Coming  of  the  Ryigliah  to  Indiana         171 

Vanderburgh  county  at  the  time  of  the  English  settle- 
ment was  located  in  a  dense  wilderness,  the  trees  were  of 
enormous  height  and  size.  For  half  a  century  Evansville  has 
been  called  the  hardwood  lumber  market  of  the  world,  result- 
ing from  the  extent  of  the  forests  and  size  of  trees,  tropical 
in  size,  in  this  section,  where  the  grain  of  the  wood  gives  the 
lumber  a  finer  quality  than  in  timber  grown  south  of  the  tem- 
perate zone.  Clearings  by  the  settlers  were  often  as  little  as 
six  or  seven  acres  the  first  year,  and  gradually  increased. 
John  Ingle,  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  when  Faux  visited 
him,  had  cleared  seventeen  acres,  and  was  continuing  the 
work,  doing  much  of  his  own  work  in  person. 

Hogs  were  raised,  half  wild,  in  the  woods  on  mast,  with 
little  expense,  and  pork  was  always  in  demand,  one  of  the 
most  available  articles  for  use  in  exchange  and  barter,  a  sub- 
stitute for  money.'^-'  Saunders  Hornbrook,  Sr.,  established 
a  pork  house  for  cutting  and  curing  the  meat,  the  earliest  in 
the  settlement,  and  like  many  others,  made  one  or  more  trips 
by  flat  boat  to  New  Orleans, 

Bears  and  wolves,  when  very  hungry,  would  eat  the  hogs 
alive,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  hog  to  come  home  with 
the  loss  of  a  pound  or  two  of  flesh  bitten  from  it.  Cattle, 
hogs  and  sheep  could  only  be  certainly  raised  successfully  by 
keeping  them  in  an  enclosure  at  night,  Mrs.  Crawford  Bell, 
daughter  of  David  Negley,  described  an  exciting  scene  in  her 
youth,  when  a  gang  of  wolves  in  daylight  chased  two  cows 
past  her,  when  she  and  her  sister  w^ere  riding  horseback, 
making  her  horse  run  aw^ay,  fortunately  not  throwing  its 
riders  among  the  wolves.  Before  aid  could  be  given,  the 
wolves  had  overtaken,  killed  and  partly  eaten  the  cows.**-* 
One  of  the  early  settlers  is  quoted  in  a  local  history  as  stating 
that  wolves  were  so  bad  in  the  20's  that  settlers  could  not 
raise  pigs  enough  to  furnish  their  pork,  and  could  not  keep 
sheep  at  all.'^'     Faux  records  that  during  the  few  days  he,  in 

'"John  N.  True»d«*ll  in  ii  notlcv  dated  S«*pt.  _',  piihllahed  Oft.  28.  advertised 
that  between  the  15th  and  2  5th  of  November,  1822,  lie  would  exchange  aalt  for 
p<jrk  at  Jones  and  Harrison's  store  In  Evansville.  Kvansville  Gatette,  Oct.  28, 
1822. 

'"GilUrt.  Ilistoru  of   Vandtrbur<jh   Cuunty.   I.   54. 

»•  (B.  ft  F.).  History  of  Vanderburffh  County,  355. 


172  Indiana  Ma(jazine  of  History 

company  with  John  Injirle,  visited  the  Birkbeck  and  Flower 
Prairie  settlement  in  Illinois,  in  November,  1819,  a  Rang  of 
wolves  in  daylight  attacked  a  large  llock  of  sheep  which  was 
guarded  by  a  shepherd,  killing  fifty  before  they  could  be 
driven  off.'"'-  He  also  records  a  visit  of  one  day  and  night  to 
"Evansville  on  the  bluffs  of  Ohio,"  and  remarks  "the  wolves 
last  night  howled  horribly  and  prowled  into  town."'^'  Wild 
cats  and  panthers  were  very  common  and  fierce  and  an  enemy 
to  any  stock,  and  were  known  to  follow  persons  in  the  woods, 
when  visiting,  from  one  house  to  another.  Bears  were  very 
common  and  easily  killed  with  the  rifle,  and  their  meat  was 
very  highly  valued.  At  Faux's  first  meal  in  the  settlement,  at 
the  house  of  John  Ingle,  bear  meat  was  served  to  him,  and  by 
him  very  highly  appreciated.' •*'^  Deer  meat  was  most  plen- 
tiful and  the  meat  was  highly  valued.  Venison  was  taken  by 
the  merchants  in  payment  of  debts  due  them,  and  for  goods 
sold  by  them.!-*" 

The  native  hunters,  as  a  rule,  took  only  the  hide  and  hind 
quarters  of  the  deer,  leaving  the  remainder  in  the  woods  to 
be  devoured  quickly  by  wolves  and  other  wild  beasts.  Forty 
years  later,  deer  were  still  to  be  found  in  the  woods  in  all  the 
counties  in  southern  Indiana.  From  White  river  to  the  Ohio 
river  along  the  Wabash  was  a  strip  of  wilderness  in  Gibson 
and  Posey  counties,  where  they  were  to  be  found  much  later 
and  are  still  occasionally  seen  and  easily  killed  when  driven 
out  of  the  river  bottoms  by  the  high  water  floods. 

Faux  paid  $4.00  for  a  bear  skin  in  1819,  worth,  he  said, 
four  pounds  in  England,  and  the  fine  hair  of  one  he  carried 
back  to  England  to  be  converted  into  wigs  for  his  friend, 
Rev.  John  Ingle,  the  patriarch  of  Somersham.'''" 

There  were  in  the  settlement  native  hunters  always  ready 
to  hunt  up  stock  which  frequently  strayed  off  and  was  lost; 
such  a  one  would  take  his  rifle  and  sometimes  be  gone  sev- 
eral days,  generally  bringing  back  the  lost  stock.  The  Lock- 
year  brothers,   whose   father  came  from   England   with   the 

'••  Thw.-iltos,  Early  Western  Travel*.  XI,  268. 

»"  Id.  292. 

'"/d.,  225. 

'•  Evansvlllo  (;nzettr,  J,^n.    H.   1S24. 

"•Thwaltes.  Earlu  Western   Travels,  XI.  292. 


lijli'hart:     Comituj  of  the  En(jli,^li  to  In/liana  173 

Maidlows,  were,  like  many  of  their  neighbors,  good  hunters 
as  well  as  farmers. 

The  controlling  idea  in  the  structure  of  the  houses  in 
which  most  of  these  first  settlers  in  the  wilderness  lived,  as 
well  as  its  furnishings,  was  perfect  economy  of  money,  which 
at  times  was  almost  unknown.  Gold  and  silver  were  a  great 
rarity,  seldom  .seen,  and  paper  money,  also  scarce,  was  very 
unreliable  in  its  rating,  and  in  the  purchase  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  people  learned  to  do  without  money.  So  it  was  in 
house  building.  Birkbeck's  first  log  house  cost  him  $20.00. 
Iron,  lead,  glass,  .salt,  and  rifles  could  not  be  made  in  this  .sec- 
tion, and  were  very  costly.  Houses  were  built  often  without 
nails  or  windows,  and  made  of  logs  fitted  by  the  axes  and 
raised  by  the  settlers  at  hou.se  raisings,  which  were  great 
social  occasions.  Faux  thus  de.scribes  the  log  house  of  John 
Ingle,  of  Saundersville,  a  picture  of  which  "drawn  from  Ingle 
Refuge,  State  of  Indiana,  U.  S.,  by  W.  Faux,"  is  the  frontis- 
piece in  his  book:^'' 

My  frieud's  log  bouse  a.s  a  first  oue  is  the  best  I  have  seen,  buving  one 
large  room  ami  a  chamber  over  it.  to  which  you  climintl  Ijy  a  ladder.  It 
has  at  present  no  windows,  but  when  the  doors  are  shut  the  crevices 
between  the  rough  logs  admit  light  and  air  enough  above  and  below. 
It  is  tive  yards  square  and  twenty  feet  high.  At  a  little  di-stance 
stands  a  stable  for  two  horses,  a  corn  crib,  pig  sty  Jind  a  store;  for  .store 
kiH'ping  is  his  intention,  and  it  is  a  gdod  one.  Two  beds  in  tlie  room  bt'iow 
and  line  above  lodge  us.i"'- 

Both  wooden  chimneys  in  the  hou.se  caught  fire  during 
Faux's  visit  and  threatened  destruction  of  the  house.  The 
house  was  heated  by  fireplaces  large  enough  to  hold  large  logs 
and  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cord  of  wood.  The  cabins  were 
sometimes  built  with  opposite  doors  so  that  a  horse  could 
haul  the  back  log  into  the  house  in  front  of  the  fireplace.  An 
early  settler  describes  the  hou.ses  in  the  entire  .settlement  in 
his  youth,  in  the  20's,  from  five  to  ten  years  after  the  time  of 
Faux's  description,  as  follows: 

The  country  was  wiUl,  ind»>i>d.  'riuTc  were  no  mads,  mere  paths,  no 
wagon  roads,  no  wagons  to  run   in  them,  uud  no  bouses,  but  log  cabins. 

"'  TliwaJtt's.  Earlu  Western  TraveU.  XI.  20. 
»»'/d.,  226. 


174  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

Thprp  wore  not   more  thiin  one  or  two  franip  hotjscs  in    W.irrick  connty. 
Tlu'  wh<>U>  country  \v:is  a   wildfrncss.'''^ 

The  furnishings  of  the  houses  were  in  many  cases  very 
primitive  and  showed  the  same  ingenuity  without  money  as 
in  building  the  houses,  in  devising  tables,  chairs,  bedsteads, 
and  more  often  substitutes,  formed  by  fastening  boards  or 
timbers  in  the  floor  or  walls.     P^aux  says: 

I  wont  one  niilo  iuul  a  half  to  Inirrow  fnun  Mrs.  m«lij:lit  Williams  six 
tunil)Iors  f(tr  tin*  us4«  of  onr  <-oniin);  Christinas  party.  Tliis  stop  was  nec- 
essary or  our  friends,  the  I>ons  of  the  sottlenient,  must  drink  out  of  tin 
cupa  or  i»ots.  Mrs.  Williams  is  the  widow  of  the  whippt^l  Yankee,  whose 
story  I  have  related.  [This  Incident  o<'cure<l  in  the  Illinois  Prairie  settle- 
ment. Williams  was  whipited  on  strong  suspicion  of  being  a  thief.  He  died 
In  Kvansvllle  later  of  his  injuries  reclevecl  at  the  hands  of  repnlators.] 
She  lives  in  a  house  without  a  chimney.  h;ivinp  only  a  hole  in  the  roof  to 
let  oiit  the  smoke,  a  tiro  l)einp  made  in  any  part.  She  was  rather  unwilling 
fo  lend  those  tumblers  boiauso  tboy  came  from  Kngland  and  money  could 
not  replace  them  If  broken.  She  should  e.xpect  five  dollars,  though  in  i:ng- 
Innd  one  dollar  bought  slx.i54 

The  records  of  Vanderburgh  county  show  an  indictment 
against  two  young  men  of  an  English  family  for  robbery  of 
the  house  of  James  Cawson,  a  neighbor.  Cawson  and  his 
wife  were  wealthy.  They  were  one  of  the  thirty-nine  families 
who  sent  Fearon  to  America.  They  brought  from  England 
with  them  many  of  the  household  conveniences,  practically 
imknown  in  the  wilderness  of  Indiana.  And  these,  it  was 
charged,  tempted  the  young  men  who  broke  into  Cawson's 
house  and  stole  them.  The  items  are  described  with  much 
detail  in  the  indictment.  It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  the 
sequels  of  this  affair.  The  defendants  were  acquitted  of  rob- 
ber}', but  their  father  was  indicted,  but  later  acquitted  for 
perjury  in  testifying  at  their  trial.  Cawson  was  indicted  for 
compounding  a  felony,  whereby  he  got  his  goods  back  and 
ceased  to  be  interested  in  the  prosecution.  While  an  agree- 
ment not  to  prosecute  under  these  circumstances  is  prohibited 
as  against  the  policy  of  the  law,  it  is  believed,  even  in  this 
age,  that  police  aid  is  more  often  sought  to  recover  stolen 
goods   than   to   vindicate   the   majesty   of  the   broken   laws. 

'-^  Historti  of  Vnudrrburfjh  County   (B.  &  F.),   355. 
»"Thwait«8.  Early  Western   Travels.  XI,  300. 


Igliliaii:     Coming  of  the  Englit^h  to  Indiana         175 

When  Cawson  was  placed  upon  his  trial  before  a  jury  in  the 
Vanderburgh  circuit  court,  he  challen^^ed  the  whole  array  of 
jurors  and  claimed  the  rij^ht  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  de  mediatate 
liiiguar,  that  is  to  be  tried  as  a  foreij^ner,  by  a  jury  half 
natives  and  half  foreigners.  This  practice  is  rare  and  at  the 
present  time  practically  unknown  in  Indiana.  The  court  sus- 
tained his  challenjre  and  directed  a  jury  to  be  empaneled, 
half  English  and  half  natives,  the  former  being  taken  from 
the  English  settlement,  among  his  neighbors,  and  Cawson 
was  acquitted.  The  names  of  the  foreigners  on  the  jury 
were  Alanson  Baldwin,  Saunders  Hornbrook,  Sr.,  Edmund 
Maidlow,  George  Potts,  William  Mills,  James  Maidlow. 
These  individuals,  including  Cawson  himself,  all  became  citi- 
zens, however,  as  soon  as  eligible,  under  the  law  at  that  time, 
which  required  several  years  previous  residence. 

Nothing  more  clearly  appears  at  this  time  than  that  suc- 
cess by  farmers  in  the  wilderness,  such  as  these  men  became, 
required  an  adjustment  to  the  conditions  of  frontier  life. 
These  pioneers  performed  household  and  farm  labor  without 
hired  help,  a  life  of  closest  economy  and  continued  sacrifice. 
The  native  laborers  were,  as  a  rule,  more  or  less  shiftless  and 
unreliable.  Good  land  could  be  bought  from  the  United 
States  at  $2.00  per  acre,  later  at  $1.25  per  acre,  on  payment 
of  one-fourth  cash,  the  remainder  on  long  time;  so  that  a 
thrifty  and  industrious  man  could  easily  make  upon  the  land 
the  money  to  buy  it,  as  the  purchase  price  became  due. 
Therefore,  with  such  opportunities,  capable  workers  nat- 
urally preferred  by  their  labor  to  own  their  own  land,  instead 
of  working  in  service  for  others.  Faux  narrates  an  incident 
when  John  Ingle  hired  a  native  preacher  to  do  a  job  of  car- 
penter work  of  some  magnitude  at  that  time,  and,  trusting  to 
his  cloth,  paid  him  forty  dollars  in  advance,  but  the  man 
refused  to  begin  or  do  the  work,  but  kept  the  money,  while 
his  employer  had  no  recourse,  as  the  ■•preacher  was  irre- 
sponsible at  law,  and  he  lost  his  money.  It  was  exceptional 
that  there  was  any  profit  in  hired  labor  on  the  farm  under 
the  conditions  as  they  existed  at  the  beginning. 

Women  house  servants  became  ipso  facto  members  of  the 
family,  on  terms  of  equality  or  privileges  with  members  of 


176  Indiana  Magazine  of  History 

the  family,  and  in  a  country  where  women  were  scarce, 
chances  of  marriajre  were  plentiful  and  interfered  with  long 
employments. 

The  life  of  these  pioneers  in  the  wilderness  was,  there- 
fore, one  of  the  hardest  labor,  involving  the  greatest  sacri- 
fice of  convenience,  comfort  and  pleasure.  It  was  the  severing 
of  ties  of  relationship  and  friendship,  leaving  organized  so- 
ciety and  civilization  behind  them.  To  these  men  and  women 
who  came  from  Great  Britain,  where  orderly  society  and  re- 
strains of  convention,  as  v%ell  as  of  law,  were  properly  es- 
tablished, the  change  was  a  severe  test. 

The  panic  of  1818,  already  referred  to,  lasted  for  many 
years,  and  checked  the  growth  of  Evansville  for  more  than  a 
decade,  checked  also  active  emigration  to  the  British  settle- 
ment. The  reduction  of  the  price  of  congress  land  from  ^2.00 
to  .$1.25  per  acre  immediately  destroyed  land  values  and 
ruined  many  people.  The  financial  effect  upon  the  country 
was  universal.  New  Orleans,  which  was  practically  the  out- 
let for  the  surplus  product  of  this  section,  which  could  only 
be  carried  by  water,  was  affected  by  the  panic,  and  had  no 
surplus  money;  from  it  this  section  had  derived  its  specie. 

The  town  of  Saundersville,  which  had  considerable  life 
during  the  first  fev/  years  of  the  settlement,  disappeared  and 
before  1840  not  an  inhabitant  lived  in  it.''"'  Such  was  the 
fate  of  many  other  platted  towns.  The  town  scheme  of  John 
Ingle  and  his  associates  and  the  British  settlement  were  en- 
tirely different  matters.  The  latter  was  a  natural  and  suc- 
cessful early  settlement  in  Indiana,  and  the  foundation  of 
much  wider  growth  and  influence.  During  the  panic  the 
people  did  not  suffer.  They  had  plenty  to  eat,  the  women 
made  the  clothing,  houses  were  built  when  necessary,  with- 
out iron,  glass  or  money.  Wooden  hinges  even  were  not  un- 
common within  the  memory  of  persons  now  living. 

Emigration  to  this  settlement  and  to  Evansville  as  well, 
never  wholly  ceased.  The  English  settlers  moved  from 
Evansville  into  the  country,  but  more  often  from  the  country 
into  Evansville,  and  mixed  as  one  people.     In  the  40*s  and 

»»»Thwalte8.  Earlu  Western  Travels.  X.  251. 


lylthart:     Coming  of  the  Ehiylish  to  Itidiana         111 

50's,  when  the  greater  tide  of  emigration  better  filled  up  the 
unoccupied  lands  in  this  section,  English  people  came  in  large 
numbers  with  those  from  other  lands.  All  the  time  communi- 
cation had  been  kept  up  by  correspondence  and  an  occasional 
visit  between  the  English  in  the  settlement  and  their  ac- 
quaintances, friends  and  relatives  in  the  old  country.  This 
resulted  in  large  numbers  of  British  emigrants  coming  into 
this  settlement  and  other  parts  of  the  county,  including  the 
city  of  Evansville. 

Before  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  John  Ingle,  Jr., 
had  established  in  Evansville  a  primitive  bureau  of  immigra- 
tion, one  of  the  important  duties  of  which  was  to  send  money 
through  John  Ross,  Banker,  Chatteris,  England,  from  the 
English  here  to  their  friends  and  relatives  in  the  old  coun- 
try, to  enable  them  to  come  over  as  well  as  to  divide  the 
profits  of  a  successful  life  in  America  with  the  old  people  and 
needy  relatives  in  England,  and  not  infrequently  collect 
legacies  in  England  for  people  here.  This  continued  for 
many  years. 

Through  influences  such  as  these,  there  came  from  Eng- 
land to  Vanderburgh  county,  and  to  the  city  of  Evansville 
while  it  was  still  small,  a  number  of  young  and  vigorous  men, 
who  soon  became  leaders  in  their  various  fields.  Among 
these  were  leading  farmers,  builders  and  contractors  in  wood, 
brick  and  stone,  who  in  the  last  generation  were,  at  the  least, 
equally,  if  not  more  prominent  and  capable  than  any  other 
element,  in  the  building  in  Evansville,  and  other  towns  and 
cities  in  this  section,  of  churches,  schools,  sewers  and  other 
large  structures,  requiring  ability,  capital  and  public  con- 
fidence. A  number  of  these  acquired  wealth  and  position, 
and  some  of  them  are  still  living.  There  was  for  many  years 
a  section  in  the  center  of  Evansville  below  Main  street  called 
Little  Chatteris.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  inquiry  to 
attempt  to  deal  with  the  careers  of  these  later  emigrants,  or 
even  to  mention  the  names  of  prominent  people  among  them; 
rather  to  deal  with  emigrants  who  came  previous  to  1830. 

In  these  investigations,  upon  which  much  time  and  labor 
have  been  spent,  a  personal  knowledge  of  some  of  the  pioneers 
mentioned  and  of  most  of  their  children,  and  of  facts  and 


178 


Indiana  Magazine  of  History 


circumstances  narrated,  aided  by  family  history,  have  been 
of  material  service  to  the  writer.  The  success  and  import- 
ance of  the  first  British  settlement  in  Indiana  lies  much  in 
its  beinjr  a  vital  part  of  the  beginning  of  organized  society 
and  government  in  this  section,  and  its  impress  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  ideals  at  the  beginning,  out  of  which  and  upon  which 
in  a  substantial  degree  were  established  the  present  condi- 
tions in  this  community,  including  the  city  of  Evansville.  _ 

So  perfect  was  the  assimilation  that  the  history  of  the 
settlement  is  not  the  tracing  of  a  separate  element,  and  but 
for  a  careful  record  of  these  details  there  would  be  preserved 
now  no  dividing  line  between  the  British  element  and  other 
elements  in  the  early  settlement  of  this  part  of  Indiana. 


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